AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Price Target Lowered to $196.00 at Truist Financial

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) had its price target lowered by Truist Financial from $216.00 to $196.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

AME has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.78.

AMETEK Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $157.39 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.18. The stock has a market cap of $36.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK has a 12 month low of $145.02 and a 12 month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. Research analysts predict that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 directly owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,806 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 89.5% during the first quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 10,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,721,000 after buying an additional 4,724 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 310.1% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,877 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 4,444 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 101,500.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its position in AMETEK by 5.9% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 53,127 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,145,000 after acquiring an additional 2,974 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.