AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,042 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,427 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $8,119,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AME. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 66.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 261,206 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,085,000 after acquiring an additional 104,603 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 77,647 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,997,000 after purchasing an additional 3,356 shares during the period. Fenimore Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 272,869 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,187,000 after buying an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AME has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.44.

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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have 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 Down 0.2 %

Shares of AME opened at $182.59 on Thursday. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.81, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $186.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.20.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.