AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research raised shares of AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Mizuho boosted their target price 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, TD Cowen cut shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.50.

AMETEK Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $184.05 on Tuesday. AMETEK has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $185.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that AMETEK will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dudley & Shanley Inc. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dudley & Shanley Inc. now owns 139,434 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $23,942,000 after buying an additional 14,105 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,724,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 7.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,373,684 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $235,683,000 after acquiring an additional 96,316 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3.0% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 33,034 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,672,000 after acquiring an additional 958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 27.0% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,938 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,050,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.