Balentine LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Balentine LLC lowered its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 24.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,308 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 413 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Giverny Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 0.5% in the third quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 897,056 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,549,000 after purchasing an additional 4,556 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in AMETEK by 11.6% during the third 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 period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in AMETEK by 161.0% during the fourth 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 period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,275,000. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group grew its position in AMETEK by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 1,435 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AME shares. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Oppenheimer raised AMETEK from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial began coverage on AMETEK in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on AMETEK from $173.00 to $171.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.64.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME stock opened at $172.72 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $136.89 and a 12-month high of $186.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.74% and a net margin of 19.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.49 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 19.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,470 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total transaction of $250,194.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,249 shares in the company, valued at $4,467,579.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 27,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.05, for a total value of $5,070,370.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 106,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,710,045.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.20, for a total value of $250,194.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,249 shares in the company, valued at $4,467,579.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,941 shares of company stock worth $6,992,804 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Company Profile

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.