Robert W. Baird Cuts AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Price Target to $190.00

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) had its price objective trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $197.00 to $190.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

AME has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on AMETEK in a research report on Monday, April 14th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $194.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $196.90.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.1 %

AME stock opened at $171.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $168.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $179.39. 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 has a 1-year low of $145.02 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The firm has a market cap of $39.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.12.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.06. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its board has initiated a share 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 repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 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. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, 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 company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,484,263 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,559,001,000 after buying an additional 336,491 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,956,329 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,614,468,000 after acquiring an additional 98,546 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 250,538 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in AMETEK by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,760,017 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,038,301,000 after purchasing an additional 2,371,062 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 2.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.