AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $204.67.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AME shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate 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. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at $697,080,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,760,017 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,038,301,000 after acquiring an additional 2,371,062 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 393.1% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,215,087 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $219,030,000 after buying an additional 968,661 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in AMETEK by 87.9% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $337,279,000 after buying an additional 918,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in AMETEK by 240.3% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,125,068 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,805,000 after buying an additional 794,473 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE AME opened at $176.35 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $183.09 and a 200-day moving average of $180.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $40.68 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.