Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Buys New Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,896 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AME. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its position in AMETEK by 62.6% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3,116.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 1,176.5% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in AMETEK in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME stock opened at $175.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The firm has a market cap of $40.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $182.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.76.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on AME shares. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.