AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Friday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $221.00 to $222.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Approximately 1,445,585 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 55% from the previous session’s volume of 935,288 shares.The stock last traded at $182.03 and had previously closed at $180.86.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on AME. Mizuho boosted 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. TD Cowen downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price target 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.44.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,200 shares of company stock valued at $5,707,620 in the last quarter. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in AMETEK by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $337,279,000 after acquiring an additional 918,737 shares during the period. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter valued at $130,579,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in AMETEK by 72.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. purchased a new position in AMETEK during the third quarter worth about $79,782,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in AMETEK by 434.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $97,614,000 after buying an additional 440,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.1 %

The company has a market cap of $41.81 billion, a PE ratio of 31.49, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.02.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. The firm 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

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

AMETEK Company 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.