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 note published on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on AME. Truist Financial boosted their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $183.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap 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 quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.24.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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%. AMETEK’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that AMETEK will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in AMETEK during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,124,000. Procyon Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK during the third quarter worth approximately $342,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,434 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its position in AMETEK by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 70,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its position in AMETEK by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 11,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,979,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.