Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,749,446 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 69,137 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.76% of AMETEK worth $315,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AME. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,434 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in AMETEK by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 4,975 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $854,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in AMETEK by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,411 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,303,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in AMETEK by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 36,620 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in AMETEK by 58.4% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,198 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.5 %

AME opened at $183.42 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $42.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $183.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 18.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at $5,967,114. This trade represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp increased their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price 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 given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

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.