HighTower Advisors LLC Has $9.16 Million Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,235 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 4,266 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in AMETEK were worth $9,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its stake in AMETEK by 140.8% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 45,702 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,847,000 after buying an additional 26,723 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 76.2% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,814 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $829,000 after buying an additional 2,082 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in AMETEK during the third quarter valued at about $14,981,000. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 5,891 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $997,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AME shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp upped their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded AMETEK to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,006,454.91. This trade represents a 5.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 30,660 shares of company stock valued at $5,958,141 over the last 90 days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:AME traded down $1.65 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $189.89. The stock had a trading volume of 1,027,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,154,819. The business's 50 day moving average is $181.68 and its 200 day moving average is $172.62. 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 $43.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.08, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.15. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during 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 company's revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. AMETEK's payout ratio is currently 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.