UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Raises Stock Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 15.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 747,554 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 102,129 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $156,456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in IDEX by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,127 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group increased its stake in IDEX by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 2,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 10,234 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,142,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on IEX shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a report on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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, IDEX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.50.

IDEX Trading Up 0.0%

IEX opened at $181.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $176.97 and its 200-day moving average is $199.90. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $153.36 and a 52-week high of $238.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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

IDEX Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. This is an increase from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.01%.

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.