Forsta AP Fonden Sells 200 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Forsta AP Fonden decreased its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 47,600 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $8,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AME. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in AMETEK by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in AMETEK in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded 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 report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective 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. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,967,114. This trade represents a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock valued at $5,707,620 over the last quarter. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME opened at $185.98 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $185.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.25. The company has a market cap of $43.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 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.