Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 1,973,525 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 39.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,981,776 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,973,525 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 1.29% of AMETEK worth $537,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AME. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company's stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in AMETEK by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,277 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,574,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company's stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial upped their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AMETEK stock traded down $1.93 on Monday, reaching $150.73. The stock had a trading volume of 802,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,246,883. The business's 50 day moving average is $180.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.95. The company has a market cap of $34.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.53 and a 1 year high of $198.33. 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 (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $1.68 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK 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 directly owns 22,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by 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.