AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Upgraded by StockNews.com to "Buy" Rating

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

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

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AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AME traded down $1.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $177.45. 507,176 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,345,825. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $183.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.21. The company has a market cap of $40.93 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. 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 has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. The company's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AME. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in AMETEK by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company's stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in AMETEK by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,277 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,574,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% in the 4th 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 period. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.