AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Purchased by Quent Capital LLC

Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 60.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 251 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $45,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AME. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in AMETEK by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $337,279,000 after acquiring an additional 918,737 shares during the period. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at $130,579,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in AMETEK by 72.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $288,526,000 after acquiring an additional 703,501 shares during the period. D1 Capital Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at $79,782,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in AMETEK by 434.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,614,000 after acquiring an additional 440,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AME stock opened at $184.57 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $183.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $42.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.13, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (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 net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. AMETEK’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

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 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 18.89%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AME. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the business’s 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 owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at $5,967,114. This trade represents 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 insiders.

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.