AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME opened at $152.45 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a P/E/G 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $180.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that AMETEK will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. This trade represents a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AMETEK by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,713,397,000 after acquiring an additional 282,208 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,956,329 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,614,468,000 after purchasing an additional 98,546 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 3.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,199,454,000 after buying an additional 250,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in AMETEK by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,760,017 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,038,301,000 after buying an additional 2,371,062 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.