Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 1,302 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 50,864 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,302 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $8,387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AME. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in AMETEK in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other AMETEK news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 17,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.51, for a total transaction of $2,938,308.87. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 101,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,138,983.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.38, for a total transaction of $1,277,453.58. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,993,641.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 17,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.51, for a total transaction of $2,938,308.87. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,138,983.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,881 shares of company stock valued at $10,689,758. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE AME opened at $166.49 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $136.89 and a 1 year high of $186.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.21. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $179.88 and its 200 day moving average is $165.94.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.96% and a net margin of 19.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.49 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.75%.

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.