AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Stake Boosted by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,603 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,763 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned about 0.07% of AMETEK worth $26,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in AMETEK during the second quarter worth $42,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in AMETEK during the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 168.8% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total transaction of $250,521.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,006,454.91. This trade represents a 5.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This represents a 14.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AME. Wolfe Research raised AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen lowered shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $197.86.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of AME opened at $193.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.71. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $196.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.81 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio 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.