GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 442 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,270 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 442 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $950,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AME. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 19,262 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,211,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK during the second quarter worth $217,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 1.9% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 202,130 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,697,000 after purchasing an additional 3,744 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 66,650 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,034,000 after purchasing an additional 12,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in AMETEK by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 152,233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,379,000 after buying an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the company’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 value of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $179.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.54 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $187.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.41. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued 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 business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.50.

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.