Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Reduces Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lowered its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,061,305 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 727,865 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 3.92% of AMETEK worth $1,633,392,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AME. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,713,397,000 after buying an additional 282,208 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 250,538 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,760,017 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,038,301,000 after purchasing an additional 2,371,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,526,369 shares of the technology company's stock worth $993,546,000 after purchasing an additional 124,713 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of AMETEK in a report on Monday, April 14th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird cut 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $198.60.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of AME stock traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $166.81. The company had a trading volume of 711,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,294,283. The company has a market cap of $38.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $145.02 and a 12 month high of $198.33. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $179.41.

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

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. This is an increase from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. AMETEK's dividend 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.