Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $7.39 Million Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. trimmed its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,998 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 352 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $7,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. ICW Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in AMETEK by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,889 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,713,397,000 after purchasing an additional 282,208 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 116,305 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,965,000 after purchasing an additional 9,466 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C. raised its position in AMETEK by 74.1% during the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 8,418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 3,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth about $13,851,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AME has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One investment 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 MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $178.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.30 billion, a PE ratio of 30.18, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 price of $182.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.71. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.