Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 130 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,206 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 130 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AME. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at about $509,944,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 643.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,953,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $552,332,000 after purchasing an additional 3,421,558 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AMETEK by 39,681.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,827,569 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $255,348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822,975 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in AMETEK by 93.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,678,094 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $513,903,000 after acquiring an additional 1,774,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in AMETEK by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,215,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,356,541,000 after acquiring an additional 658,629 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AME has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $192.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of AMETEK in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 27,400 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.05, for a total value of $5,070,370.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 106,512 shares in the company, valued at $19,710,045.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.38, for a total transaction of $1,277,453.58. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,543 shares in the company, valued at $3,993,641.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 27,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.05, for a total transaction of $5,070,370.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 106,512 shares in the company, valued at $19,710,045.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,881 shares of company stock worth $10,689,758 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of AME opened at $179.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.98. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $133.12 and a twelve month high of $186.32. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $178.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $163.94. The firm has a market cap of $41.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.58, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.22.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.06. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.91% and a return on equity of 17.96%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is an increase from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.75%.

AMETEK 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.