AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. cut its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,206 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 103 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 3rd quarter worth $1,124,000. Procyon Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK in the third quarter valued at about $342,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in AMETEK by 6.2% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,434 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,367,000 after buying an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 70,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,108,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 11,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,979,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AME. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial increased their target price on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME opened at $184.57 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a PE ratio of 31.13, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.11.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 18.89%.

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.