Banque Pictet & Cie SA Sells 68,666 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA reduced its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 38.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 108,790 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 68,666 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in AMETEK were worth $18,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 282,208 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in AMETEK by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,760,017 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,038,301,000 after purchasing an additional 2,371,062 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth approximately $697,080,000. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AME shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on AMETEK from $197.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on AMETEK in a report on Monday, April 14th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on AMETEK from $194.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $212.00 price target on AMETEK in a report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $197.89.

AMETEK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AME traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $180.99. The stock had a trading volume of 839,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,305,164. The business's fifty day moving average is $178.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $41.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.62, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.09. AMETEK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.02 and a twelve month high of $198.33.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.75% and a net margin of 20.43%. AMETEK's revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.29%.

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.