Montag & Caldwell LLC Cuts Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Montag & Caldwell LLC reduced its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,756 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 839 shares during the period. Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lincoln National Corp increased its stake in AMETEK by 6.1% during the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 1,436 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 4.6% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,919 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,203 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 5,319 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $877,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,536 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,407,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.3 %

AME stock traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $178.09. The stock had a trading volume of 111,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 922,717. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.53. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $136.89 and a twelve month high of $186.32. The firm has a market cap of $41.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.44, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.22.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.06. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.96% and a net margin of 19.91%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 5,973 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.90, for a total transaction of $1,008,839.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,709 shares in the company, valued at $17,178,650.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 5,973 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.90, for a total transaction of $1,008,839.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,709 shares in the company, valued at $17,178,650.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.38, for a total value of $1,277,453.58. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,543 shares in the company, valued at $3,993,641.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,881 shares of company stock valued at $10,689,758 in the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AME. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on AMETEK from $192.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial started coverage on AMETEK in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.78.

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.