Axa S.A. Acquires 10,309 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Axa S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 358.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,184 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,309 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $2,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in AMETEK by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,669,394 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $275,266,000 after purchasing an additional 167,602 shares in the last quarter. Cim LLC purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,254,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth about $768,000. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 8.6% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 44,108 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,353,000 after buying an additional 3,499 shares during the period. Finally, Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in AMETEK during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,676,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now owns 23,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME stock opened at $171.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.26. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $136.89 and a one year high of $186.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $166.41 and its 200 day moving average is $170.84.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.51% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AME. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on AMETEK from $171.00 to $166.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of AMETEK from $165.00 to $158.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $186.29.

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.