Natixis Advisors LLC Has $43.68 Million Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 119.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 242,293 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 131,668 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.10% of AMETEK worth $43,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth $999,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company's stock worth $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 23.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company's stock worth $61,099,000 after purchasing an additional 67,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 434.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company's stock worth $97,614,000 after purchasing an additional 440,197 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AME. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

AMETEK stock traded down $1.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $176.02. 864,107 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,158,970. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $40.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33. The business's 50-day moving average is $183.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.44.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

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.