Argent Capital Management LLC Acquires 1,788 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Argent Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,748 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,788 shares during the quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $4,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,177 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,335 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 4.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 346,275 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,727,000 after purchasing an additional 15,276 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of AMETEK by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,882,166 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $313,777,000 after purchasing an additional 148,447 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $530,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.5 %

AME opened at $180.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $41.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $187.75 and a 200 day moving average of $174.94. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company 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 earnings per share. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AME shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho upped their price target on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of 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, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.33.

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.