Primecap Management Co. CA Sells 6,000 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Primecap Management Co. CA lessened its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 349,900 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $63,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,583,231,000 after acquiring an additional 24,072 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,199,454,000 after acquiring an additional 250,538 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $924,308,000 after acquiring an additional 45,459 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,415,508 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $795,939,000 after acquiring an additional 99,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE raised its holdings in AMETEK by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 3,724,352 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $671,352,000 after purchasing an additional 91,287 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AMETEK Trading Down 1.5 %

AMETEK stock opened at $175.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.57 billion, a PE ratio of 29.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s fifty day moving average is $183.02 and its 200 day moving average is $180.46.

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

AMETEK declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AME has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp increased their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

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.