Forsta AP Fonden Sells 3,000 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,200 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $7,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth about $239,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,905 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,293,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $671,000 after buying an additional 873 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management bought a new position in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $171.00 to $166.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on AMETEK from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.29.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:AME opened at $167.51 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.76. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $136.89 and a one year high of $186.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.73.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.51% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The business’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.57 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.68%.

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.