StockNews.com Lowers AMETEK (NYSE:AME) to Hold

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

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on AME. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on AMETEK from $173.00 to $171.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Oppenheimer raised AMETEK from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $200.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on AMETEK in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a buy rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $181.80.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $170.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.58 billion, a PE ratio of 30.05, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.20. AMETEK has a 12 month low of $136.89 and a 12 month high of $186.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.14.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.05. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.74% and a net margin of 19.57%. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AMETEK will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 19.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,440 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.93, for a total transaction of $250,459.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,809 shares in the company, valued at $4,315,029.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.93, for a total transaction of $250,459.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,809 shares in the company, valued at $4,315,029.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.38, for a total value of $1,277,453.58. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,993,641.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,981 shares of company stock worth $6,990,437. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $589,098,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 48.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,075,565 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,294,121,000 after buying an additional 2,306,535 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 19.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,189,108 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $618,983,000 after buying an additional 674,549 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 4,845.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 677,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,643,000 after buying an additional 663,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter valued at approximately $90,248,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.