IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Acquired by Weitz Investment Management Inc.

Weitz Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 330,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 47,850 shares during the period. IDEX comprises about 3.6% of Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $69,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IEX. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of IDEX by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. grew its stake in IDEX by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 4,532 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in IDEX by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,210 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in IDEX by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its stake in IDEX by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on IEX. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.71.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of IDEX stock opened at $181.18 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $195.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.23. IDEX Co. has a 52 week low of $176.39 and a 52 week high of $242.09. The stock has a market cap of $13.69 billion, a PE ratio of 27.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.99.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.