Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Boosts Stock Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,034 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 958 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $5,672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AME. State Street Corp lifted its position in AMETEK by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,220,376 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,583,231,000 after acquiring an additional 24,072 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AMETEK by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,401,656 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $924,308,000 after purchasing an additional 45,459 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,602,753 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $600,615,000 after purchasing an additional 926,657 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,964,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $337,279,000 after purchasing an additional 918,737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in AMETEK by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,882,166 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $313,777,000 after buying an additional 148,447 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AME. KeyCorp increased their price target on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. TD Cowen downgraded shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wolfe Research raised shares of AMETEK to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,460 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.59, for a total value of $250,521.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,006,454.91. The trade was a 5.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,660 shares of company stock worth $5,958,141. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:AME opened at $187.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $183.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.04. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.03 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.64, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.15.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The technology company reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 19.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.8 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

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.