AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on AME. TD Cowen downgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research 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 company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.50.

AMETEK Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $184.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $185.03 and a 200 day moving average of $173.80. The company has a market cap of $42.57 billion, a PE ratio of 32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. AMETEK has a 12-month low of $149.03 and a 12-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.

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

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 19.51%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock valued at $5,707,620 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in AMETEK by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,583,231,000 after buying an additional 24,072 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $924,308,000 after acquiring an additional 45,459 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 87.9% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $337,279,000 after acquiring an additional 918,737 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 8.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,882,166 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $313,777,000 after acquiring an additional 148,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 72.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.