AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Raised to “Buy” at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $225.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $195.00.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. StockNews.com upgraded AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen cut shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp raised their target price on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.50.

AMETEK Trading Down 3.2 %

AME opened at $180.76 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. AMETEK has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company has a market cap of $41.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.49, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50 day moving average is $184.30 and its 200-day moving average is $173.45.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AMETEK will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 19.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total value of $250,521.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. This represents a 5.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,660 shares of company stock worth $5,958,141 in the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AMETEK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 4.8% in the second quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,340 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.4% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.9% in the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,225 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC raised its position in AMETEK by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,178 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,233,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Company 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.