AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on AME. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp increased 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. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:AME opened at $185.48 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $183.73 and its 200-day moving average is $177.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.24. AMETEK has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The firm has a market cap of $42.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

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

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other AMETEK news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP raised its position in AMETEK by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 54,429 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,811,000 after acquiring an additional 23,532 shares during the period. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc bought a new stake in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth about $488,000. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth about $1,550,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth about $1,075,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.