Montanaro Asset Management Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Montanaro Asset Management Ltd cut its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 17.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 45,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,400 shares during the period. IDEX accounts for approximately 1.9% of Montanaro Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd owned 0.06% of IDEX worth $9,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of IDEX by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 30,250 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of IDEX by 48.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,426,000 after purchasing an additional 6,720 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 129.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 417 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Covea Finance boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 70.6% in the 4th quarter. Covea Finance now owns 14,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,035,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in IDEX by 1.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,177,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $252,603,000 after acquiring an additional 14,360 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of IEX stock opened at $184.89 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.53. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $177.71 and a 52-week high of $245.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $209.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.99.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. On average, analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.