Grant Private Wealth Management Inc Invests $488,000 in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Grant Private Wealth Management Inc bought a new stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,707 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $488,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Huntington National Bank grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,550,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,075,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,526,369 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $993,546,000 after acquiring an additional 124,713 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in AMETEK by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 142,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,616,000 after acquiring an additional 21,009 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AME. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial raised their target price 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. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.4 %

AMETEK stock opened at $172.60 on Thursday. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $181.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.03. The stock has a market cap of $39.83 billion, a PE ratio of 29.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. Research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Company 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.