AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Shares Down 6.6%

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)’s stock price fell 6.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $161.96 and last traded at $162.44. 1,635,438 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 73% from the average session volume of 944,069 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of AMETEK in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on AMETEK from $192.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.78.

AMETEK Stock Down 6.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $180.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $165.96. The firm has a market cap of $37.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.21.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.96% and a net margin of 19.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 19.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 5,973 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.90, for a total value of $1,008,839.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 101,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,178,650.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 5,973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.90, for a total transaction of $1,008,839.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 101,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,178,650.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.38, for a total value of $1,277,453.58. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,993,641.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 59,881 shares of company stock worth $10,689,758. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AME. Value Partners Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the 1st quarter worth approximately $391,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in AMETEK by 4.0% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 24,756 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,539,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares during the last quarter. Mendel Money Management raised its holdings in AMETEK by 192.2% during the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 29,748 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,441,000 after purchasing an additional 62,027 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in AMETEK by 33.2% during the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 53,187 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,728,000 after purchasing an additional 13,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connecticut Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in AMETEK by 10.6% in the first quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,675 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.