Virtu Financial LLC Has $312,000 Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Virtu Financial LLC decreased its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 64.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,894 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,451 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AME. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in AMETEK by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,669,394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $275,266,000 after acquiring an additional 167,602 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 161.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 44,684 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,368,000 after purchasing an additional 27,562 shares during the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth about $6,275,000. Cim LLC bought a new position in AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,254,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in AMETEK by 139.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 173,822 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,662,000 after buying an additional 101,144 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AME shares. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on AMETEK in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $173.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.80.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $168.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $136.89 and a 1-year high of $186.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $171.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.12.

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

AMETEK Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,470 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $250,194.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,467,579.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,470 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total value of $250,194.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,249 shares in the company, valued at $4,467,579.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $141,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,863,680. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,690 shares of company stock worth $642,613. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.