Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Purchases 277 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 93.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 574 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake 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 worth $275,266,000 after acquiring an additional 167,602 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 161.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 44,684 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,368,000 after buying an additional 27,562 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth about $6,275,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $768,000. Finally, Cim LLC bought a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,254,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

AMETEK Price Performance

NYSE AME opened at $168.67 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.64, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.66. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $136.89 and a 1-year high of $186.32. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $171.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.41.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company 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 firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on AME shares. Oppenheimer raised AMETEK from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $173.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on AMETEK in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.80.

AMETEK 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.