Sandy Spring Bank Has $365,000 Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Sandy Spring Bank reduced its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,024 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in AMETEK by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 432,790 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $78,015,000 after buying an additional 21,011 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in AMETEK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $891,000. Xponance Inc. increased its position in AMETEK by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 32,724 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,899,000 after buying an additional 1,163 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in AMETEK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,393,000. Finally, Kensington Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in AMETEK by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,277 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,574,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AME opened at $174.50 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $182.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.43. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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 paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AME. KeyCorp lifted 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. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.