2,387 Shares in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Acquired by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance bought a new position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,387 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 3,116.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $178.76 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.42. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.14, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. 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) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AME. KeyCorp upped their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial upped their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.