Pacer Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,042 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,427 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in AMETEK were worth $8,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AME. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in AMETEK by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter worth about $44,000. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AME traded up $3.46 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $185.98. 1,101,933 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,250,106. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.25. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The firm has a market cap of $43.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,731 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock valued at $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on AME shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.44.

AMETEK Profile

AMETEK, Inc manufactures and sells electronic instruments and electromechanical devices in the North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, and internationally. The company's EIG segment offers advanced instruments for the process, aerospace, power, and industrial markets; process and analytical instruments for the oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, automation, and food and beverage industries; instruments to the laboratory equipment, ultra-precision manufacturing, medical, and test and measurement markets; power quality monitoring and c devices, uninterruptible power supplies, programmable power and electromagnetic compatibility test equipment, and sensors for gas turbines and dashboard instruments; heavy trucks, instrumentation, and controls for the food and beverage industries; and aircraft and engine sensors, power supplies, embedded computing, monitoring, fuel and fluid measurement, and data acquisition systems for aerospace and defense industry.