AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also commented on AME. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AME traded down $3.47 on Friday, reaching $183.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,605,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,326,865. AMETEK has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33. The company has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.87, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,277 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,574,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AMETEK Company 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.