FIL Ltd Reduces Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

FIL Ltd decreased its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 192,093 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 30,661 shares during the period. FIL Ltd owned about 0.08% of AMETEK worth $34,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,713,397,000 after buying an additional 282,208 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,956,329 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,614,468,000 after purchasing an additional 98,546 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in AMETEK by 3.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,199,454,000 after buying an additional 250,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,526,369 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $993,546,000 after acquiring an additional 124,713 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,415,508 shares of the technology company's stock worth $795,939,000 after acquiring an additional 99,505 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company's stock.

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AMETEK Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of AME traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $160.75. The company had a trading volume of 156,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,273,300. The stock has a market cap of $37.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.94. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.02 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. AMETEK's payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AME shares. BNP Paribas raised 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. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of AMETEK in a report on Monday. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their target price on AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $198.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.