Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Raises Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 47.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,913 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 6,375 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AME. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,236 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,929,000 after buying an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 319.3% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,824 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 185.3% during the 3rd quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 13,010 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,234,000 after buying an additional 8,450 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,124,000. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 3rd quarter valued at $342,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following 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 own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on AME. Bank of America upgraded shares of 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. StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price 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. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of AME traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $185.48. 1,394,719 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,380,140. The company's fifty day moving average price is $183.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.05. The company has a market capitalization of $42.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.24 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.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. AMETEK's payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

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.