AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Bought by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,744 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 578 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $6,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $999,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 23.2% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 434.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,614,000 after purchasing an additional 440,197 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AME has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

AMETEK stock opened at $179.38 on Tuesday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has initiated 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 buy up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AMETEK 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.