Signaturefd LLC Buys 200 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,558 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK during the third quarter worth $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at $999,000. Czech National Bank grew its position in AMETEK by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in AMETEK by 23.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $61,099,000 after purchasing an additional 67,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in AMETEK by 434.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,614,000 after purchasing an additional 440,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME opened at $177.22 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $183.00 and a 200-day moving average of $180.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $40.89 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33.

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

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors 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 is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AME. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Truist Financial raised their target price 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. StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.