Machina Capital S.A.S. decreased its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 18.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,149 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,375 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.'s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in AMETEK by 72.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company's stock worth $288,526,000 after buying an additional 703,501 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 15.7% in the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the technology company's stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in AMETEK by 7.3% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,456 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in AMETEK by 9.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 68,204 shares of the technology company's stock worth $11,711,000 after purchasing an additional 5,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guerra Pan Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AMETEK during the third quarter worth approximately $205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.
AME has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp raised 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $204.67.
Check Out Our Latest Report on AMETEK
In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.
NYSE AME opened at $184.12 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.03 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $183.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $179.82. The stock has a market cap of $42.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.
AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is a positive change 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 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.
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.
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