Mizuho Securities USA LLC Grows Stock Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 46.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,923 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,909 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AME. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 42,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,663,000 after acquiring an additional 11,261 shares during the period. Semanteon Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at $223,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,476 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,755,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 7,798 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 49.1% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 93,232 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,806,000 after acquiring an additional 30,716 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE AME opened at $174.50 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $40.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.62. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $149.03 and a one year high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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 given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 20.91%.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AME shares. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $221.00 to $222.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Profile

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.