Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $315.36 Million Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,749,446 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 69,137 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.76% of AMETEK worth $315,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,583,231,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in AMETEK by 3.7% in 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 boosted its position in AMETEK by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $924,308,000 after buying an additional 45,459 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in AMETEK by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $337,279,000 after buying an additional 918,737 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,373,684 shares of the technology company's stock worth $235,683,000 after purchasing an additional 96,316 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.1 %

AME traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $188.76. 1,036,217 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,326,846. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $182.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.77. The company has a market cap of $43.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. 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 (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. AMETEK's payout ratio is 20.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AME. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird cut their price target 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. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.67.

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.