Short Interest in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Drops By 11.4%

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) saw a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,180,000 shares, a decrease of 11.4% from the September 15th total of 2,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AME has been the topic of several research reports. Redburn Atlantic raised AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $171.00 to $166.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.29.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME stock traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $170.18. 8,387 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,137,146. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. AMETEK has a 52-week low of $136.89 and a 52-week high of $186.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $167.42 and a 200 day moving average of $169.77. The company has a market cap of $39.39 billion, a PE ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.17.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.02. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 19.51%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.57 earnings per share. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AMETEK will post 6.76 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.68%.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total transaction of $250,521.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in AMETEK by 48.4% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,075,565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,294,121,000 after buying an additional 2,306,535 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,602,753 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $600,615,000 after acquiring an additional 926,657 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 256.3% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 976,808 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $162,844,000 after purchasing an additional 702,674 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in AMETEK during the first quarter worth about $46,343,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 133.3% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 394,881 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,223,000 after purchasing an additional 225,600 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AMETEK Company 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.