Empire Life Investments Inc. Increases Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Empire Life Investments Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 154,533 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,696 shares during the period. AMETEK comprises about 1.7% of Empire Life Investments Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Empire Life Investments Inc. owned about 0.07% of AMETEK worth $27,856,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,434 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 70,517 shares of the technology company's stock worth $12,108,000 after buying an additional 2,659 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 4,975 shares of the technology company's stock worth $854,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,411 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,303,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 6,914 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AME. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Up 2.4 %

AME traded up $4.46 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $188.82. 1,104,173 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,335,930. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business's 50 day moving average is $182.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.69. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $43.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.16.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.89%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

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

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.