AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Truist Financial Analyst Says

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) had its price objective raised by analysts at Truist Financial from $196.00 to $200.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 19.06% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on AMETEK in a report on Monday, April 14th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on AMETEK from $194.00 to $201.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AMETEK has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $197.60.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AMETEK stock opened at $167.99 on Monday. AMETEK has a 1-year low of $145.02 and a 1-year high of $198.33. The company’s 50-day moving average is $169.42 and its 200 day moving average is $179.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.12. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The technology company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. AMETEK’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that AMETEK will post 7.15 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, February 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,865,318.40. This represents a 6.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total transaction of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. This represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AME. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AMETEK during the fourth quarter worth $697,080,000. Capital World Investors boosted 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 acquiring an additional 2,371,062 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of AMETEK by 393.1% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,215,087 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,030,000 after acquiring an additional 968,661 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of AMETEK by 18,368.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 973,280 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $167,540,000 after purchasing an additional 968,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in AMETEK by 240.3% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,125,068 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $202,805,000 after purchasing an additional 794,473 shares during the period. 87.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.