Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,400 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $2,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on AME shares. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp raised their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

AME opened at $183.42 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $183.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.16. The company has a market cap of $42.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.24 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated 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 repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. 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. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 18.89%.

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.