IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Bought by Premier Fund Managers Ltd

Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 300,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 80,000 shares during the period. IDEX makes up 2.3% of Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Premier Fund Managers Ltd owned about 0.40% of IDEX worth $64,482,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of IDEX in the 3rd quarter worth $1,266,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in IDEX by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 224,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $48,177,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in IDEX by 42.5% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 37,035 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,944,000 after acquiring an additional 11,046 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 6.0% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Stock Performance

IDEX stock opened at $223.61 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $213.32 and a 200-day moving average of $207.65. The stock has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.96. IDEX Co. has a 52 week low of $189.51 and a 52 week high of $246.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.05 million. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. On average, analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IEX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Argus lowered shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.14.

IDEX Company 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.