IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Sold by Shell Asset Management Co.

Shell Asset Management Co. cut its holdings in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 52.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,212 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,342 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. acquired a new position in IDEX in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in IDEX in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in IDEX by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in IDEX by 129.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 417 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in IDEX by 24,700.0% in the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 496 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $190.84 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $200.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $14.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07. IDEX Co. has a 12-month low of $153.36 and a 12-month high of $238.22.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $814.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.25 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. This is an increase from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. IDEX’s payout ratio is presently 45.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson dropped their price target on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup cut their price target on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho set a $175.00 price target on IDEX in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.25.

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.