AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $184.13, but opened at $176.00. AMETEK shares last traded at $178.69, with a volume of 449,532 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AME has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.0 %

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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $184.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.61. The company has a market capitalization of $41.75 billion, a PE ratio of 31.42, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 19.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In related 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 transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of AMETEK 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,015,253.69. This trade represents a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $337,279,000 after acquiring an additional 918,737 shares during the period. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter worth $130,579,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 72.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,526,000 after acquiring an additional 703,501 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AMETEK by 10,506.5% in the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 476,442 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $812,000 after acquiring an additional 471,950 shares during the period. Finally, D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new position in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter worth $79,782,000. Institutional investors 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.