National Pension Service Reduces Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

National Pension Service trimmed its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME – Get Rating) by 3.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 298,199 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 10,479 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $33,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in AMETEK by 84.3% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 212 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 78.1% in the third quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 228 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 64.0% in the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 228 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its stake in AMETEK by 726.5% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 281 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in AMETEK by 31.4% in the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 439 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 85.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on AME shares. Loop Capital lifted their target price on AMETEK from $160.00 to $164.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 12th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on AMETEK from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 21st. Wolfe Research downgraded AMETEK from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. StockNews.com started coverage on AMETEK in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on AMETEK from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.54, for a total transaction of $107,281.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,207,601.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Gretchen W. Mcclain sold 2,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total value of $382,486.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,704 shares in the company, valued at $2,067,676.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.54, for a total transaction of $107,281.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,207,601.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,440 shares of company stock worth $2,507,660 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE AME opened at $135.84 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $106.17 and a twelve month high of $148.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market cap of $31.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $142.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.12.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The technology company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.05. AMETEK had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 18.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 19.96%.

AMETEK Profile

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AMETEK, Inc engages in the manufacture of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices. It operates through the following two segments: Electronic Instruments (EIG) and Electromechanical (EMG). The EIG segment designs and manufactures advanced instruments for the process, aerospace, power and industrial markets.