Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt Sells 140,900 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt lessened its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,678,465 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 140,900 shares during the quarter. AMETEK comprises approximately 2.5% of Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt owned approximately 1.16% of AMETEK worth $482,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in AMETEK in the third quarter worth about $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AMETEK during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $999,000. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,041,000 after acquiring an additional 2,987 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,099,000 after purchasing an additional 67,025 shares during the period. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,752,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.6 %

AMETEK stock opened at $188.12 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $183.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $43.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.03 and a 12 month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. Truist Financial increased their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

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.