AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Short Interest Update

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,970,000 shares, a decline of 7.5% from the January 15th total of 2,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This trade represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AME. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% during the 4th 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. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AME. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho boosted 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. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME stock traded down $1.01 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $183.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,041,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,456,313. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $183.19 and its 200 day moving average is $177.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.43 billion, a PE ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month 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 0.84.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Company Profile

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.