First Horizon Advisors Inc. Sells 70 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 9.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 70 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in IDEX by 3.3% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 223,892 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,047,000 after purchasing an additional 7,222 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 247.0% during the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 198,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,872,000 after buying an additional 141,064 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of IDEX in the 2nd quarter worth $3,627,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 162.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 101,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,433,000 after acquiring an additional 62,803 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in IDEX during the first quarter valued at $11,765,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $232.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.11. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $189.51 and a 1 year high of $246.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $215.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $207.87. The stock has a market cap of $17.61 billion, a PE ratio of 35.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.96.

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

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on IEX. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Argus downgraded shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.14.

About IDEX

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.