Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 170,149 AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 170,149 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $30,671,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned about 0.07% of AMETEK as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AME. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 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 worth $1,199,454,000 after purchasing an additional 250,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company's stock worth $924,308,000 after purchasing an additional 45,459 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,415,508 shares of the technology company's stock worth $795,939,000 after purchasing an additional 99,505 shares during the period. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 3,724,352 shares of the technology company's stock worth $671,352,000 after purchasing an additional 91,287 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

AMETEK Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AME traded down $2.73 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $175.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 895,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,158,417. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 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. The company has a market capitalization of $40.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $183.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $180.42.

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. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy 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 stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK's payout ratio is 20.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AME has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised 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. KeyCorp boosted their price objective 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. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.67.

About AMETEK

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.