B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Has $305,000 Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 4.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,789 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 93 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AME. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 366.1% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 261 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME opened at $183.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average of $184.83 and a 200-day moving average of $173.63.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp increased their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho raised their price target on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.50.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total transaction of $250,521.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. The trade was a 5.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,660 shares of company stock valued at $5,958,141. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK 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.