AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by Buffington Mohr McNeal

Buffington Mohr McNeal reduced its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 63,350 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 793 shares during the quarter. AMETEK makes up about 1.9% of Buffington Mohr McNeal’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $11,420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AME. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at $999,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 23.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,099,000 after buying an additional 67,025 shares during the last quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in AMETEK by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,752,000 after acquiring an additional 3,210 shares during the period. Finally, Sawgrass Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in AMETEK by 36.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 74,757 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,837,000 after acquiring an additional 20,001 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen cut AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.44.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $184.93 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $186.47 and a 200 day moving average of $176.00. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $42.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. AMETEK’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 19.51%.

Insider Activity

In other AMETEK news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % 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 the SEC website. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is currently 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.