AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $184.13, but opened at $176.00. AMETEK shares last traded at $178.69, with a volume of 449,532 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Cowen cut AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AMETEK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.44.

AMETEK Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $185.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.50. The firm has a market cap of $42.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. On average, research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. 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 19.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This trade represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,200 shares of company stock valued at $5,707,620 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 8,106 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,461,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its position in AMETEK by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 135,247 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,380,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277 shares in the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 1,715 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at $2,774,000. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.