Everence Capital Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 5,540 AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,540 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $999,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in AMETEK by 3,116.7% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AMETEK in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in AMETEK by 366.1% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 261 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 226.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $179.57 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $187.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.41. The company has a market cap of $41.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.03 and a 12-month high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AME shares. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.50.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.