Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Sells 3,306 Shares of IDEX Corporation $IEX

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lowered its stake in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) by 39.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,046 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,306 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in IDEX were worth $886,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of IDEX during the second quarter worth approximately $156,009,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in IDEX by 1,232.4% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 487,274 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $88,182,000 after purchasing an additional 450,704 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in IDEX by 142.2% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 652,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $114,588,000 after buying an additional 383,221 shares in the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE increased its position in IDEX by 132.8% during the 2nd quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 640,792 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $112,504,000 after buying an additional 365,525 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 23.4% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,249,546 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $220,849,000 after buying an additional 236,650 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on IEX shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of IDEX in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of IDEX in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of IDEX from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer set a $210.00 price target on IDEX in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on IDEX from $197.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, IDEX presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $196.86.

IDEX Stock Performance

NYSE IEX opened at $180.20 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.93, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. IDEX Corporation has a 1 year low of $153.36 and a 1 year high of $226.04.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its earnings results on Friday, December 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.97%.The firm had revenue of $712.00 million during the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 16th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 44.94%.

IDEX announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase up to 8.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

IDEX Company Profile

IDEX Corporation is a diversified industrial manufacturer specializing in the design, production and distribution of highly engineered fluidics systems, measurement technologies and safety solutions. The company’s core offerings include positive-displacement pumps, flow meters, valves, sampling systems and analytical instruments that serve a wide range of end markets such as water treatment, chemical processing, energy, food and beverage, and life sciences. Through its focus on precision engineering and proprietary material science, IDEX delivers products designed for reliability in demanding applications.

Operations at IDEX are organized into three principal segments.