AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lowered shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Mizuho upped their price target 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.50.

AMETEK Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $186.71 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. AMETEK has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company’s fifty day moving average is $184.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.39.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This trade represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total transaction of $250,521.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. This trade represents a 5.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,660 shares of company stock worth $5,958,141 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AME. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in AMETEK during the third quarter valued at about $3,724,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in AMETEK by 23.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,099,000 after buying an additional 67,025 shares in the last quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in AMETEK by 36.5% during the third quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 74,757 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,837,000 after buying an additional 20,001 shares in the last quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in AMETEK by 2.9% during the third quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,752,000 after buying an additional 3,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 30.9% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 53,849 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,247,000 after purchasing an additional 12,718 shares in the last quarter. 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.