Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Increases Stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,106 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth approximately $999,000. Czech National Bank raised its stake in AMETEK by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,041,000 after buying an additional 2,987 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 23.2% during 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 period. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC boosted its position in AMETEK by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,752,000 after acquiring an additional 3,210 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:AME opened at $185.76 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The company has a market cap of $42.97 billion, a PE ratio of 31.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s 50 day moving average is $182.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.55.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on AME shares. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued 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, AMETEK presently 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.