Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Acquires 34,866 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 183,024 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,866 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $32,992,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in AMETEK in the third quarter worth approximately $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth approximately $999,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in AMETEK by 23.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,099,000 after buying an additional 67,025 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.9% during the third quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,752,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME opened at $183.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.43 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.84. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $183.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly 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. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % 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. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AME. Mizuho upped their price target on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp upped their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised 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, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

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.