Martin Investment Management LLC Sells 6,226 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Martin Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,565 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,226 shares during the period. AMETEK makes up about 1.8% of Martin Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Martin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $6,591,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in AMETEK by 72.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the third quarter valued at approximately $372,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $997,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. This trade represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AME stock opened at $171.96 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $39.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $182.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.09.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

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

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.