AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Acquired by Giverny Capital Inc.

Giverny Capital Inc. grew its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 974,459 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,237 shares during the period. AMETEK accounts for approximately 6.4% of Giverny Capital Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Giverny Capital Inc. owned about 0.42% of AMETEK worth $175,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at about $248,000. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $376,000. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 41,862 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,547,000 after purchasing an additional 6,184 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in AMETEK by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 12,241 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 40,577 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,314,000 after buying an additional 6,321 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of AMETEK in a research report on Monday. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $198.60.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.5 %

AME traded down $0.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $157.66. The stock had a trading volume of 1,698,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,281,519. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $145.02 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $174.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.69.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. AMETEK's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the firm'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 sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

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.