Short Interest in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Drops By 11.4%

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) saw a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,180,000 shares, a decline of 11.4% from the September 15th total of 2,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on AMETEK from $171.00 to $166.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $201.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen downgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.83.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE:AME traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $171.84. 406,851 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,137,181. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.78 billion, a PE ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.17. AMETEK has a one year low of $136.89 and a one year high of $186.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.86.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.51% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total value of $250,521.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 48.4% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,075,565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,294,121,000 after acquiring an additional 2,306,535 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in AMETEK by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,602,753 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $600,615,000 after purchasing an additional 926,657 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 256.3% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 976,808 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $162,844,000 after buying an additional 702,674 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in AMETEK during the 1st quarter worth about $46,343,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 133.3% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 394,881 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,223,000 after buying an additional 225,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.