KBC Group NV Has $47.09 Million Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

KBC Group NV grew its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 66.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 261,206 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 104,603 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $47,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AME. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $999,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 2.9% during 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 lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 36.5% during 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 during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at $7,015,253.69. This trade represents a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,200 shares of company stock valued at $5,707,620 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America upgraded 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. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho raised their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen cut AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.44.

AMETEK Price Performance

AMETEK stock opened at $184.93 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $186.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.00. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

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

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.