Checchi Capital Advisers LLC Trims Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Checchi Capital Advisers LLC reduced its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 21.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,622 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 450 shares during the quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AME. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

AMETEK stock opened at $187.27 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $183.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $149.03 and a 12-month high of $198.33.

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

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 given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 18.89%.

AMETEK declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.