AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on AME. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial raised their target price on AMETEK from $219.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.50.

AMETEK Price Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $179.57 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $187.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.33. The firm has a market cap of $41.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. AMETEK has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.39.

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

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. This trade represents a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AMETEK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the second quarter valued at about $50,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in AMETEK by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 19,262 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,211,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in AMETEK by 268.8% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,404 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 2,481 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK in the second quarter worth $286,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 28.9% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 108,566 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $18,100,000 after acquiring an additional 24,364 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.