Level Four Advisory Services LLC Acquires 80 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,624 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 72.0% during 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 buying an additional 703,501 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in AMETEK by 2.9% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 3,526 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at $372,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in AMETEK by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,067 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 416.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 87,178 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,969,000 after purchasing an additional 70,297 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AME shares. Truist Financial lifted their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Up 1.0 %

AME stock opened at $172.05 on Tuesday. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $181.06.

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

AMETEK announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

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.