Short Interest in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Declines By 7.5%

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,970,000 shares, a decrease of 7.5% from the January 15th total of 2,130,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial increased 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. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its position in AMETEK by 79.8% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 3,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,706 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 8,767 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,580,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,512,437 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $272,632,000 after acquiring an additional 107,303 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK by 36.4% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 924,193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $166,595,000 after acquiring an additional 246,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth about $4,261,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME stock traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $184.01. 1,104,843 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,343,408. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $183.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.47. The company has a market cap of $42.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.89%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.