Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 53,849 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 12,718 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in AMETEK were worth $9,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AME. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in AMETEK by 42.6% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,919 shares of the technology company's stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in AMETEK by 15.1% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,930 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $902,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its position in AMETEK by 0.4% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 74,825 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $13,685,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in AMETEK by 29,554.5% during the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 9,786 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,790,000 after buying an additional 9,753 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in AMETEK by 1.1% during the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 945,183 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $172,874,000 after buying an additional 10,428 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total value of $250,521.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. This represents a 5.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This represents a 14.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,913 shares of company stock valued at $4,636,404 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AME. TD Cowen lowered shares of AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Redburn Atlantic raised AMETEK to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded AMETEK to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.29.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.0 %

AME stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $197.13. The stock had a trading volume of 1,282,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,156,013. The firm has a market cap of $45.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $177.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.91. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. AMETEK's payout ratio is 19.51%.

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.