AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Bought by Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,115 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at $64,562,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 67,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,122,000 after acquiring an additional 934 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,400,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth about $30,671,000. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 34,833 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,279,000 after purchasing an additional 9,091 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME opened at $184.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market cap of $42.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.05, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $183.38 and a 200-day moving average of $179.82.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released 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 net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AME shares. 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 report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.