AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Short Interest Update

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,510,000 shares, a decline of 14.6% from the March 15th total of 2,940,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 955,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME opened at $179.71 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $178.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.55 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. AMETEK has a 52-week low of $133.12 and a 52-week high of $186.32.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.91% and a return on equity of 17.96%. AMETEK’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.75%.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In related news, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of the company’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,993,641.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of the company’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,993,641.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $141,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,240 shares in the company, valued at $1,863,680. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 59,881 shares of company stock valued at $10,689,758. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Giverny Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 897,056 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,549,000 after acquiring an additional 4,556 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 3,637 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $537,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 161.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 44,684 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,368,000 after acquiring an additional 27,562 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,117 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $461,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Advisors lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 208.1% in the 4th quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 21,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,525,000 after acquiring an additional 14,439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.