Empirical Finance LLC Lowers Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Empirical Finance LLC cut its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,857 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 89 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $337,279,000 after buying an additional 918,737 shares during the last quarter. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in AMETEK during the third quarter worth $130,579,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in AMETEK by 72.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new position in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at $79,782,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 434.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,614,000 after purchasing an additional 440,197 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was 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 company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME opened at $184.54 on Monday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $184.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

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.