Short Interest in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) Drops By 14.6%

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) saw a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,510,000 shares, a decline of 14.6% from the March 15th total of 2,940,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 955,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of AME stock opened at $179.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $41.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $178.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.72. AMETEK has a 1-year low of $133.12 and a 1-year high of $186.32.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.91% and a return on equity of 17.96%. AMETEK’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that AMETEK will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. AMETEK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AME. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of AMETEK in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of AMETEK from $192.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of AMETEK from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.59, for a total value of $252,826.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 28,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,066,271.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO William Joseph Burke sold 17,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.51, for a total transaction of $2,938,308.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 101,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,138,983.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.59, for a total transaction of $252,826.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 28,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,066,271.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 59,881 shares of company stock valued at $10,689,758. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,578,270 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,217,601,000 after purchasing an additional 84,832 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 4.2% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,215,102 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,356,541,000 after purchasing an additional 658,629 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 2.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,733,274 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $686,321,000 after purchasing an additional 105,377 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,196,755 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $692,051,000 after purchasing an additional 198,777 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of AMETEK by 19.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,189,108 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $618,983,000 after purchasing an additional 674,549 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.43% of the company’s stock.

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.