PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Buys 2,868 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 199,631 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,868 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned 0.09% of AMETEK worth $35,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 72.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,456 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $765,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 68,204 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $11,711,000 after acquiring an additional 5,873 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter worth about $205,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter worth about $248,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AME shares. 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. Truist Financial raised their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp increased their target price 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, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.67.

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AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME traded down $4.67 on Thursday, reaching $172.54. 1,721,265 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,363,492. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $183.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.19. The stock has a market cap of $39.80 billion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week 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 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. The company's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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 Activity at AMETEK

In related news, 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 transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.