AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $221.00 to $222.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. 1,445,585 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 55% from the previous session’s volume of 935,288 shares.The stock last traded at $182.03 and had previously closed at $180.86.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on AMETEK from $166.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp increased their price objective on AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.44.

Insider Transactions at AMETEK

In other news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,490 shares in the company, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider David F. Hermance sold 6,243 shares of AMETEK 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 owns 36,731 shares in the company, valued at $7,015,253.69. The trade was a 14.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,200 shares of company stock worth $5,707,620 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AMETEK

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AME. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in AMETEK by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in AMETEK by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in AMETEK by 0.9% in the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,178 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,330 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Trading Up 0.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $42.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.16. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $187.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.98.

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

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 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.