IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Purchased by Tortoise Index Solutions LLC

Tortoise Index Solutions LLC lifted its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,332 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Tortoise Index Solutions LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $2,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in IDEX by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,190,741 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $475,632,000 after acquiring an additional 84,502 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of IDEX during the fourth quarter worth $237,425,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 6.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 785,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $163,445,000 after buying an additional 45,120 shares during the period. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 420.8% during the fourth quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 781,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $169,600,000 after buying an additional 631,172 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 608,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,164,000 after buying an additional 15,202 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE IEX traded down $0.69 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $202.22. 44,996 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 402,951. The stock has a market cap of $15.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a current ratio of 3.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $222.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $221.41. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $183.76 and a 1 year high of $246.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.12. IDEX had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 17.89%. The company had revenue of $801.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. IDEX’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. This is a boost from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. IDEX’s payout ratio is 36.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on IDEX from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup lifted their target price on IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.71.

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.