Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 298 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lessened its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,886 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 298 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $1,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AMETEK by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,608,566 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,277,369,000 after buying an additional 463,926 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in AMETEK by 4.2% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,215,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,356,541,000 after buying an additional 658,629 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AMETEK by 2.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,733,274 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,321,000 after buying an additional 105,377 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in AMETEK by 19.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,189,108 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $618,983,000 after buying an additional 674,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in AMETEK by 643.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,953,131 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $552,332,000 after buying an additional 3,421,558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $141,960.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,240 shares in the company, valued at $1,863,680. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $141,960.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,240 shares in the company, valued at $1,863,680. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 5,973 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 101,709 shares in the company, valued at $17,178,650.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,881 shares of company stock worth $10,689,758. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

AMETEK Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE AME opened at $177.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $179.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $164.34. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $133.12 and a 1 year high of $186.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.91% and a return on equity of 17.96%. The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This is a boost from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is 19.75%.

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.