IDEX Corporation $IEX Shares Sold by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. lessened its position in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,643 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 985 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. owned about 0.09% of IDEX worth $11,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in IDEX by 235.5% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,899 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of IDEX in the 1st quarter valued at $909,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of IDEX during the 2nd quarter valued at $275,000. Swedbank AB raised its position in IDEX by 16.2% in the first quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 55,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,025,000 after purchasing an additional 7,726 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 15.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 101,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,736,000 after buying an additional 13,294 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $164.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $165.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.23. IDEX Corporation has a 52-week low of $153.36 and a 52-week high of $237.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.00, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.04.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.97%.The business had revenue of $712.00 million during the quarter. On average, analysts anticipate that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to buy up to 8.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 16th will be issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. IDEX’s payout ratio is 44.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on IEX. DA Davidson set a $180.00 price target on IDEX and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of IDEX in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer set a $210.00 price objective on shares of IDEX in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on IDEX from $204.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on IDEX from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.86.

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.