Fulton Bank N.A. Raises Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Fulton Bank N.A. increased its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,199 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in AMETEK by 3.8% in the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AMETEK by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,178 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,330 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in AMETEK by 62.6% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 5.9% in the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,567 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AME. Wolfe Research upgraded AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. TD Cowen cut AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.50.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME stock opened at $178.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market cap of $41.24 billion, a PE ratio of 31.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $187.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.65.

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

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.51%.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,200 shares of company stock valued at $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.