AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on AME. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME stock opened at $180.05 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. AMETEK has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The business’s fifty day moving average is $184.84 and its 200-day moving average is $176.58. The company has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The company’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AME. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in AMETEK in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at $999,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,099,000 after purchasing an additional 67,025 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in AMETEK by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares during the period. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.9% in the third quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,752,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.