Rafferty Asset Management LLC Grows Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,601 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,187 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,985,350 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,199,454,000 after buying an additional 250,538 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,760,017 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,038,301,000 after buying an additional 2,371,062 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% during the 4th 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AME shares. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on AMETEK from $194.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on AMETEK in a research note on Monday, April 14th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on AMETEK from $197.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Truist Financial upped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $196.90.

AMETEK Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE AME opened at $182.81 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $168.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.90. AMETEK, Inc. has a one year low of $145.02 and a one year high of $198.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $42.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.12.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.74 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. AMETEK's payout ratio is currently 20.29%.

AMETEK declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the company'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 sale, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is 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.

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