StockNews.com Downgrades AMETEK (NYSE:AME) to Hold

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen cut shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.86.

AMETEK Price Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $193.10 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.82. AMETEK has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $196.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.67 billion, a PE ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AMETEK will post 6.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This trade represents a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 trade was a 5.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in AMETEK by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,583,231,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 48.4% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,075,565 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,294,121,000 after buying an additional 2,306,535 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in AMETEK by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,536,231 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,195,478,000 after buying an additional 44,899 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AMETEK by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $924,308,000 after acquiring an additional 45,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 34.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,602,753 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $600,615,000 after acquiring an additional 926,657 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.