Natixis Advisors LLC Has $43.68 Million Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 119.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 242,293 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 131,668 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $43,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 2,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc. increased its stake in AMETEK by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 33,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,990,000 after buying an additional 2,410 shares during the period. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $135,000. Impact Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in AMETEK by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 92,730 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,782,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AME. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of 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 shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Price Performance

NYSE AME opened at $176.35 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.36. The company has a market cap of $40.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK 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.