Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Buys 1,299 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 35.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,971 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in AMETEK by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,670 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 18,469 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 109,182 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,349 shares in the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Net Worth Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 4,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $871,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.6 %

AME opened at $176.02 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.41. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The company has a market capitalization of $40.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.