AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $205.00 to $215.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. AMETEK traded as high as $197.41 and last traded at $196.81, with a volume of 112024 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $195.76.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen cut AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total transaction of $250,521.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,006,454.91. The trade was a 5.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This represents a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AME. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 366.1% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 261 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 130,622 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $22,429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,397 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $934,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 45,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA lifted its stake in AMETEK by 2.9% during the third quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 133,970 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $23,004,000 after purchasing an additional 3,767 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.01, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $175.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.49.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

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.