Montanaro Asset Management Ltd Grows Stock Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Montanaro Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the quarter. IDEX makes up 2.1% of Montanaro Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.07% of IDEX worth $11,669,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in IDEX by 3.6% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 2,593 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX in the 1st quarter valued at $274,000. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 17,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 17.1% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,577 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sheets Smith Wealth Management purchased a new position in IDEX in the first quarter valued at $700,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on IEX shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus cut shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.14.

IDEX Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of IDEX stock opened at $228.51 on Friday. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $189.33 and a 52-week high of $246.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.45. The firm has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The company had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.72%.

IDEX Profile

IDEX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides applied solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Fluid & Metering Technologies (FMT), Health & Science Technologies (HST), and Fire & Safety/Diversified Products (FSDP). The FMT segment designs, produces, and distributes positive displacement pumps, valves, small volume provers, flow meters, injectors, and other fluid-handling pump modules and systems, as well as flow monitoring and other services for the food, chemical, general industrial, water and wastewater, agricultural, and energy industries.