AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) is HCR Wealth Advisors’ 9th Largest Position

HCR Wealth Advisors cut its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,672 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 17,700 shares during the quarter. AMETEK comprises approximately 2.1% of HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings in AMETEK were worth $17,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AME. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in AMETEK in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,724,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $999,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in AMETEK by 23.2% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 355,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $61,099,000 after purchasing an additional 67,025 shares in the last quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK by 36.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 74,757 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,837,000 after purchasing an additional 20,001 shares during the period. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its position in AMETEK by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 115,033 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,752,000 after purchasing an additional 3,210 shares in the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:AME opened at $180.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.36, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.16. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.03 and a 52 week high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $187.75 and a 200 day moving average of $174.94.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AME. Wolfe Research upgraded AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.50.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,750,024.90. The trade was a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.99, for a total value of $1,192,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.