Jones Financial Companies Lllp Grows Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 39.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 70,856 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 20,011 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in AMETEK were worth $12,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AME. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 87.9% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company's stock worth $337,279,000 after acquiring an additional 918,737 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 72.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company's stock worth $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC increased its position in AMETEK by 10,506.5% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 476,442 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $812,000 after buying an additional 471,950 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter worth $79,782,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 434.5% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas raised 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. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned 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 an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Down 1.4 %

AMETEK stock traded down $2.52 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $182.52. The stock had a trading volume of 627,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,328,460. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The company has a market cap of $42.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.79, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $183.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.66.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company's revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK's payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

AMETEK Company 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.