AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Free Report) in a research note released on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating and a $170.00 price objective on the technology company's stock.

AME has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial decreased their target price on AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. BNP Paribas raised 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $198.60.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.5 %

AME traded down $0.86 during trading on Monday, hitting $157.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,698,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,284,129. The stock has a market cap of $36.38 billion, a PE ratio of 26.59, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. AMETEK has a twelve month low of $145.02 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $174.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.62.

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

AMETEK declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was 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. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

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.