AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Acquired by HighPoint Advisor Group LLC

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,344 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AME. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 62.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in AMETEK by 1,176.5% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other AMETEK news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target 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. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $172.60 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $181.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $181.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.83 billion, a PE ratio of 29.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24.

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

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.

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.