Renaissance Technologies LLC Has $58.95 Million Stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 215.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 327,050 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 223,400 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.14% of AMETEK worth $58,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $697,080,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in AMETEK by 240.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,125,068 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $202,805,000 after acquiring an additional 794,473 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,680,309 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,526,000 after purchasing an additional 703,501 shares in the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 10,506.5% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 476,442 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $812,000 after purchasing an additional 471,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 434.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $97,614,000 after acquiring an additional 440,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AME shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird cut their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. This trade represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AMETEK Trading Up 6.4 %

NYSE:AME opened at $161.11 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $37.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $177.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.27. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $145.02 and a one year high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. AMETEK’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.91%.

AMETEK declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.