Blue Trust Inc. Sells 1,783 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Blue Trust Inc. cut its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 81.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 415 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,783 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $75,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AMETEK Price Performance

AME stock opened at $186.11 on Monday. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $182.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $43.05 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 18.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AME shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas raised shares of 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. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

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.