Guggenheim Capital LLC Lowers Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Guggenheim Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 26.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,323 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 12,517 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in AMETEK were worth $6,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AME. Norges Bank bought a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth $697,080,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 240.3% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,125,068 shares of the technology company's stock worth $202,805,000 after acquiring an additional 794,473 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in AMETEK by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $288,526,000 after acquiring an additional 703,501 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AMETEK by 10,506.5% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 476,442 shares of the technology company's stock worth $812,000 after acquiring an additional 471,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 434.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company's stock worth $97,614,000 after purchasing an additional 440,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME stock traded up $3.42 on Wednesday, hitting $163.07. The company had a trading volume of 382,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,415,599. The stock has a market cap of $37.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a P/E/G 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $173.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $179.53. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $145.02 and a 12-month high of $198.33.

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, 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AME has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on AMETEK in a report on Monday, April 14th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $198.60.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value 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. This represents 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 currently owned by company insiders.

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.