King Luther Capital Management Corp Raises Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 8.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 106,833 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,195 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $18,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 926,657 shares during the last quarter. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in AMETEK during the 3rd quarter valued at about $130,579,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in AMETEK by 72.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $288,526,000 after buying an additional 703,501 shares during the last quarter. James Hambro & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in AMETEK in the third quarter worth about $60,188,000. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the third quarter worth about $40,811,000. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on AME shares. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AMETEK to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho lifted their price target on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.86.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total transaction of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This represents a 14.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total transaction of $250,521.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. This trade represents a 5.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Stock Up 1.0 %

AMETEK stock opened at $195.20 on Friday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $196.70. The firm has a market cap of $45.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $175.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 19.51%.

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.