AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 256.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 976,808 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 702,674 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.42% of AMETEK worth $162,844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AME. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth about $205,270,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in AMETEK by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 53,871 shares of the technology company's stock worth $8,883,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in AMETEK by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 89,202 shares of the technology company's stock worth $14,713,000 after purchasing an additional 18,588 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 3,860 shares of the technology company's stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,824 shares of the technology company's stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,440 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.93, for a total transaction of $250,459.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,809 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,315,029.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $204.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AMETEK to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $186.29.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AME traded up $1.67 during trading on Friday, hitting $171.05. 1,212,410 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,119,702. The company has a market cap of $39.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.18. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $136.89 and a 1 year high of $186.32. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $166.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $172.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.51% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The business's revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.57 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.68%.

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.

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