TIAA Trust National Association Cuts Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

TIAA Trust National Association lowered its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,706 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,574 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $6,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of AMETEK during the third quarter valued at $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in AMETEK during the 4th quarter valued at about $999,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,041,000 after acquiring an additional 2,987 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 23.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,099,000 after acquiring an additional 67,025 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 434.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,614,000 after purchasing an additional 440,197 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.5 %

AME opened at $179.69 on Wednesday. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $41.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $182.98 and its 200 day moving average is $180.83.

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

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. Truist Financial increased their price objective 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.