AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Shares Sold by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 19.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,592,686 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,392,664 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,008,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in AMETEK by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 22,626 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,079,000 after acquiring an additional 2,193 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 361,057 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,835,000 after purchasing an additional 29,145 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 82.6% in the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 156,498 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,210,000 after purchasing an additional 70,795 shares in the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,889 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,242,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in AMETEK by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,713,397,000 after buying an additional 282,208 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on AME. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME opened at $170.25 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $39.28 billion, a PE ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $182.60 and its 200-day moving average is $180.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. On average, analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.91%.

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.