Longbow Finance SA Makes New $5.48 Million Investment in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Longbow Finance SA purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 30,371 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $5,475,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in AMETEK by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,583,231,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of 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 raised its holdings in AMETEK by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $924,308,000 after acquiring an additional 45,459 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in AMETEK by 2.3% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its stake in AMETEK by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 3,724,352 shares of the technology company's stock worth $671,352,000 after acquiring an additional 91,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company's stock.

AMETEK Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE AME traded up $1.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $189.18. 2,096,753 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,325,322. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.76 billion, a PE ratio of 31.90, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $183.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.87.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm 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 firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. This is an increase from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK's payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.67.

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.