Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires 350,205 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. $AME

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 199.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 525,759 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 350,205 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.23% of AMETEK worth $98,842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AMETEK during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $650,613,000. Amundi raised its stake in AMETEK by 266.1% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,512,966 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $275,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099,748 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AMETEK by 22.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,254,475 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $769,890,000 after acquiring an additional 775,078 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AMETEK by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,926,530 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $529,585,000 after buying an additional 573,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AMETEK by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,997,665 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,885,497,000 after purchasing an additional 513,402 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AME has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on AMETEK from $212.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of AMETEK from $198.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Mizuho upped their target price on AMETEK from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Oppenheimer downgraded AMETEK from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Melius Research set a $235.00 target price on shares of AMETEK in a research report on Monday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AMETEK presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.82.

AMETEK Stock Down 1.1%

AME opened at $224.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $51.57 billion, a PE ratio of 35.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. AMETEK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.02 and a 52 week high of $227.79. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $207.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.01.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The technology company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.13. AMETEK had a net margin of 20.50% and a return on equity of 16.66%. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. AMETEK’s payout ratio is currently 19.56%.

Insider Activity at AMETEK

In other news, insider Thomas C. Marecic sold 14,310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.11, for a total transaction of $2,892,194.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,607,662.79. This represents a 25.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David A. Zapico sold 28,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.76, for a total value of $5,727,966.40. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 137,088 shares of company stock valued at $27,212,340 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

AMETEK Profile

AMETEK, Inc is a global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices that serves a broad range of industries. Headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, the company designs and produces precision instruments, electronic measurement devices, specialty sensors, and electric motors and motion control systems. Its product portfolio includes analytical and monitoring instruments, calibration equipment, power supplies, embedded electronics, and industrial motors and drives used for critical applications.

The company operates through two primary business platforms — an electronic instruments group focused on analytical, test and measurement and sensor products, and an electromechanical group that supplies motors, actuators, and related power and motion solutions.