Empire Life Investments Inc. Takes Position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Empire Life Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 67,495 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $11,129,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in AMETEK during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on AMETEK from $173.00 to $171.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial assumed coverage on AMETEK in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on AMETEK from $192.00 to $188.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $179.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of AMETEK 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,993,641.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Thomas M. Montgomery sold 6,891 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.38, for a total value of $1,277,453.58. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 21,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,993,641.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 27,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.05, for a total transaction of $5,070,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 106,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,710,045.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 53,908 shares of company stock valued at $9,680,918 over the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AMETEK Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE AME traded down $1.63 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $168.47. The company had a trading volume of 1,400,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 986,935. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $136.89 and a 1-year high of $186.32. The firm's 50 day moving average is $178.45 and its 200-day moving average is $167.52.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.05. AMETEK had a return on equity of 17.74% and a net margin of 19.57%. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 6.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. AMETEK's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.68%.

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.

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