Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Raises Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 188.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 363 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised 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 purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in AMETEK by 62.6% in the 3rd 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. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in AMETEK by 1,176.5% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 217 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its position in AMETEK by 60.9% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AME shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total transaction of $1,321,737.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,967,114. The trade was a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $184.01 on Wednesday. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $183.06 and its 200 day moving average is $177.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. AMETEK’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.