Ieq Capital LLC Sells 487 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Ieq Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,834 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 487 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $2,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in AMETEK by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,583,231,000 after purchasing an additional 24,072 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,199,454,000 after purchasing an additional 250,538 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $924,308,000 after acquiring an additional 45,459 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 918,737 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,749,446 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,355,000 after acquiring an additional 69,137 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. One 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.67.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AMETEK Stock Down 1.4 %

AMETEK stock opened at $186.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $182.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.36. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 18.89%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.