L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Reduces Holdings in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP trimmed its holdings in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,938 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 1,579 shares during the quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP's holdings in AMETEK were worth $5,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% during the fourth 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 position in shares of AMETEK by 1.1% during the fourth 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 3.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,199,454,000 after purchasing an additional 250,538 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 70.0% during the fourth 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 124,713 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total transaction of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. The trade was a 6.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AME. Wall Street Zen upgraded AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on AMETEK from $194.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho set a $212.00 price objective on AMETEK in a report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on AMETEK in a report on Monday, April 14th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on AMETEK from $197.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $197.89.

AMETEK Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of AME stock traded up $1.51 on Friday, hitting $178.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,041,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,293,541. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $169.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.68. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $145.02 and a one year high of $198.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $41.20 billion, a PE ratio of 30.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.10.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.06. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Dividend Announcement

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

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.