AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. AME has experienced a decrease in hedge fund interest lately. There were 13 hedge funds in our database with AME positions at the end of the previous quarter.
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of indicators shareholders can use to analyze stocks. A couple of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can outpace the broader indices by a significant margin (see just how much).
Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the world of equities. Obviously, there are many stimuli for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would buy. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if investors know what to do (learn more here).
Now, we’re going to take a peek at the key action encompassing AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME).
How have hedgies been trading AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)?
In preparation for this quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -15% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s capital changing hands, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.
Of the funds we track, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors had the largest position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME), worth close to $154.8 million, comprising 1% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Robert Joseph Caruso of Select Equity Group, with a $127.4 million position; the fund has 1.7% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Alexander Mitchell’s Scopus Asset Management, Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management and Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.
Seeing as AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) has faced a declination in interest from hedge fund managers, we can see that there was a specific group of hedge funds who were dropping their full holdings in Q1. Interestingly, Bain Capital’s Brookside Capital said goodbye to the largest position of the 450+ funds we track, worth an estimated $84.5 million in stock.. Israel Englander’s fund, Millennium Management, also sold off its stock, about $5.2 million worth. These bearish behaviors are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds in Q1.
Insider trading activity in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)
Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the last half-year time period, AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 10 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME). These stocks are A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS), REGAL-BELOIT CORPORATION (NYSE:RBC), Eaton Corporation, PLC Ordinary Shares (NYSE:ETN), Nidec Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NJ), and Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK). This group of stocks are the members of the industrial electrical equipment industry and their market caps match AME’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE:AOS) | 11 | 0 | 13 |
| REGAL-BELOIT CORPORATION (NYSE:RBC) | 13 | 0 | 2 |
| Eaton Corporation, PLC Ordinary Shares (NYSE:ETN) | 45 | 0 | 9 |
| Nidec Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NJ) | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) | 26 | 0 | 16 |
With the returns demonstrated by Insider Monkey’s strategies, retail investors must always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading activity, and AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) is an important part of this process.
