Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Sells 285 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,717 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 285 shares during the quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,889 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,713,397,000 after purchasing an additional 282,208 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 116,305 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,965,000 after purchasing an additional 9,466 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 8,418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,517,000 after buying an additional 3,584 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth $13,851,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME opened at $176.90 on Thursday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company has a market cap of $40.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $182.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. On average, analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is 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 $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AME. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial raised their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target 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 downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Profile

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.