AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Position Increased by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 391,702 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 12,064 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $70,608,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AME. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,147,772 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,713,397,000 after acquiring an additional 282,208 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in AMETEK by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,956,329 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,614,468,000 after purchasing an additional 98,546 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,199,454,000 after buying an additional 250,538 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in AMETEK by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,760,017 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,038,301,000 after buying an additional 2,371,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,526,369 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $993,546,000 after buying an additional 124,713 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. This trade represents a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AME. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on AMETEK in a research report on Monday, April 14th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.60.

AMETEK Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:AME opened at $167.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $171.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.02 and a 52 week high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. AMETEK’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio is 20.91%.

AMETEK Company Profile

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.