NFJ Investment Group LLC Has $2.56 Million Stock Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

NFJ Investment Group LLC reduced its position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 174 shares during the quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $2,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 223,892 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,047,000 after purchasing an additional 7,222 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 247.0% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of IDEX during the second quarter valued at about $3,627,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of IDEX by 162.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 168,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,041,000 after acquiring an additional 4,465 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Argus lowered IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.14.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX opened at $230.52 on Wednesday. IDEX Co. has a fifty-two week low of $189.51 and a fifty-two week high of $246.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $218.10 and a 200 day moving average of $208.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.97. The firm has a market cap of $17.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.68, a PEG ratio of 2.45 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 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. IDEX’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.72%.

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.