Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Buys 34,866 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 183,024 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 34,866 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG owned 0.08% of AMETEK worth $32,992,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its position in AMETEK by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 177,456 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,988,000 after acquiring an additional 25,487 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,348 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $964,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 11,871 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,140,000 after buying an additional 3,145 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in AMETEK by 60.9% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 251 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC raised its position in AMETEK by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,120 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $562,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This trade represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME stock traded up $4.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $188.82. 1,104,173 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,335,930. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $182.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.69. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. This is an increase from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK's payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded 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. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK 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.