Baird Financial Group Inc. Purchases 2,256 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,056 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,256 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in AMETEK by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 142,093 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,616,000 after acquiring an additional 21,009 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in AMETEK by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 50,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,041,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in AMETEK by 434.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 541,517 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,614,000 after purchasing an additional 440,197 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 16.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 88,898 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,025,000 after purchasing an additional 12,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in AMETEK by 74.1% during the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 8,418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,517,000 after buying an additional 3,584 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AME shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AMETEK from $194.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their target price on AMETEK from $196.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. StockNews.com cut AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $197.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $196.90.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.1 %

AME stock opened at $171.69 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $168.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.12. AMETEK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.02 and a fifty-two week high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.06. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.29%.

AMETEK announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, February 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.