IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Holdings Decreased by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lessened its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 9.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,432 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,251 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $2,453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Studio Investment Management LLC lifted its position in IDEX by 4.9% in the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 955 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in IDEX by 31.0% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 38.4% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in IDEX by 73.8% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.14.

IDEX Stock Performance

IEX stock opened at $231.10 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.90. IDEX Co. has a 52 week low of $189.51 and a 52 week high of $246.36. The stock has a market cap of $17.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.