AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by Neuberger Berman Group LLC

Neuberger Berman Group LLC lessened its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 834,423 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 65,116 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned about 0.36% of AMETEK worth $150,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,713,397,000 after acquiring an additional 282,208 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,956,329 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,614,468,000 after purchasing an additional 98,546 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,199,454,000 after buying an additional 250,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,526,369 shares of the technology company's stock worth $993,546,000 after buying an additional 124,713 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings 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 valued at $795,939,000 after acquiring an additional 99,505 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AME shares. Morgan Stanley started coverage on AMETEK in a report on Monday. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $198.60.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of AMETEK stock traded down $1.04 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $160.32. The company had a trading volume of 200,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,274,096. The company has a market cap of $36.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.02 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The firm's fifty day moving average is $176.35 and its 200-day moving average is $180.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were 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 was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. AMETEK's payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK 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.