Buckhead Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Buckhead Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,418 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AME. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its holdings in AMETEK by 4,845.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 677,075 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,643,000 after buying an additional 663,385 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in AMETEK during the third quarter worth $90,248,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in AMETEK by 84.9% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,081,557 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $159,811,000 after acquiring an additional 496,523 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in AMETEK by 52.9% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,032,796 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,606,000 after acquiring an additional 357,212 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME stock traded down $0.68 on Wednesday, hitting $173.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,185,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 935,590. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $180.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.90. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $136.89 and a 1 year high of $186.32. The stock has a market cap of $40.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.06. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.91% and a return on equity of 17.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.52 EPS. AMETEK’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 5,973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were 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 owns 101,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,178,650.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other AMETEK news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 5,973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were 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 owns 101,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,178,650.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.38, for a total transaction of $1,277,453.58. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,993,641.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders 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

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AME shares. StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 2nd. KeyCorp raised their price objective 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. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of AMETEK in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of AMETEK from $192.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.