Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 2,108 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Meritage Portfolio Management trimmed its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 93,699 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,108 shares during the period. AMETEK makes up approximately 1.0% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $16,890,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,583,231,000 after buying an additional 24,072 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 3.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,199,454,000 after acquiring an additional 250,538 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $924,308,000 after acquiring an additional 45,459 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 87.9% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $337,279,000 after purchasing an additional 918,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 72.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AME. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial increased their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of 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 shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.44.

Insider Activity

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This represents a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620 in the last quarter. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AMETEK Trading Down 2.1 %

AME opened at $180.28 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $184.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.41, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.51%.

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.