AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Upgraded 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 Sunday.

AME has been the topic of a number of other reports. 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. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial upped their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. 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 research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

AME stock opened at $184.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $42.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $183.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $179.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased 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 valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 14,277 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,574,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AMETEK by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in AMETEK by 42.9% during 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. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.