Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 432,790 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,011 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $78,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in AMETEK by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in AMETEK in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on AME shares. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $177.22 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $183.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.44. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.89, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

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

AMETEK declared that its board has approved a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors 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 0.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 20.91%.

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.