Metis Global Partners LLC Raises Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,862 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,400,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 35.8% during the 4th quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 54,097 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,752,000 after purchasing an additional 14,252 shares during the period. Illumine Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at $1,578,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at $1,053,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at $30,671,000. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 90,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial upped their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp upped their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $189.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a PE ratio of 31.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $183.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.19. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.