AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $204.67.

Several research firms have commented on AME. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In related news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at $697,080,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in AMETEK by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,760,017 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,038,301,000 after purchasing an additional 2,371,062 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 393.1% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,215,087 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,030,000 after purchasing an additional 968,661 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 87.9% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $337,279,000 after buying an additional 918,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 240.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,125,068 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,805,000 after buying an additional 794,473 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AMETEK Price Performance

AME stock opened at $188.82 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $182.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.69. AMETEK has a 12-month low of $149.03 and a 12-month high of $198.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $43.68 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.89%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.