Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Decreases Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. decreased its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,643 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,905 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in AMETEK during the third quarter valued at about $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at about $999,000. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in 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 period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in AMETEK by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,099,000 after acquiring an additional 67,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in AMETEK by 434.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $97,614,000 after purchasing an additional 440,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AME. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.67.

AMETEK Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE AME opened at $175.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.57 billion, a PE ratio of 29.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $183.02 and its 200 day moving average is $180.46. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.03 and a twelve month high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. Research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 0.70%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the 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 approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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.