3,000 Shares in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Bought by Board of the Pension Protection Fund

Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AME. State Street Corp grew its holdings in AMETEK by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,583,231,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 3.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,199,454,000 after buying an additional 250,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $924,308,000 after buying an additional 45,459 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 87.9% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,882,166 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $313,777,000 after acquiring an additional 148,447 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AME. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Wolfe Research raised shares of AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. KeyCorp upped 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 upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:AME opened at $179.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $187.75 and a 200 day moving average of $174.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.21, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.51%.

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.