UMB Bank n.a. Lowers Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

UMB Bank n.a. reduced its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 16.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 461 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 92 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $83,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AME. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth $227,000. Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its stake in AMETEK by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 128,728 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $23,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,899 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at about $258,000. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 22,748 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AME. StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen lowered AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This trade represents a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 29,200 shares of company stock valued at $5,707,620 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.9 %

AME stock opened at $190.46 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $186.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.58. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $44.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.18, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.16.

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

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

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.