AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Bank of America upgraded 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. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen cut shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research raised AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.50.

AMETEK Stock Performance

NYSE:AME opened at $179.57 on Wednesday. AMETEK has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $187.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.33. The company has a market cap of $41.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that AMETEK will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total value of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This trade represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 62.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the third quarter worth $44,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in AMETEK by 366.1% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 261 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in AMETEK in the second quarter valued at about $50,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.