Wells Fargo & Company MN Sells 69,253 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Wells Fargo & Company MN decreased its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 387,180 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 69,253 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.17% of AMETEK worth $69,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 72.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $288,526,000 after buying an additional 703,501 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 226.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the technology company's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 51.6% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 14,614 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,509,000 after acquiring an additional 4,974 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 5.5% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,675 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 81.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 121,084 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $20,791,000 after acquiring an additional 54,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AME. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $198.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME traded up $2.77 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $161.72. The company had a trading volume of 148,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,274,470. The company has a market capitalization of $37.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $145.02 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $176.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. This is an increase from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

About AMETEK

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.