AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Upgraded by Bank of America to Buy Rating

Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Bank of America currently has $225.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $195.00.

AME has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research raised AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.50.

AMETEK Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $189.45 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.27. The firm has a market cap of $43.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. AMETEK has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. AMETEK’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that AMETEK will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.51%.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total value of $250,521.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,006,454.91. This represents a 5.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,660 shares of company stock valued at $5,958,141. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 62.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in AMETEK in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in AMETEK in the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in AMETEK by 366.1% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 261 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.