Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 591 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,670 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AME. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 9th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Price Performance

Shares of AME opened at $176.35 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $40.68 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.03 and a 52-week high of $198.33. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $183.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 20.91%.

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.