Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Cuts Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lowered its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 26.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,504 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 14,689 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $7,301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,583,231,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 3.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,199,454,000 after purchasing an additional 250,538 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $924,308,000 after buying an additional 45,459 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $337,279,000 after buying an additional 918,737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 72.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,526,000 after buying an additional 703,501 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AME shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. 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. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of AMETEK 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 sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of AME opened at $184.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $184.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.65. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.89%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors 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 buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.