AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $168.91, but opened at $179.62. AMETEK shares last traded at $181.23, with a volume of 248,832 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AME has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho raised their target price on AMETEK from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on AMETEK from $171.00 to $166.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.29.

AMETEK Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.90. The company has a market capitalization of $42.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.17.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 19.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.57 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total transaction of $250,521.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 7.3% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 899 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1.6% in the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 4.8% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,340 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.4% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.9% in the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,225 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Company Profile

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.