iA Global Asset Management Inc. Invests $1.32 Million in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,555 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,319,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 7.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,964,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,943,609,000 after purchasing an additional 555,250 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $237,425,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in IDEX by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 608,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $132,164,000 after acquiring an additional 15,202 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in IDEX by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 492,810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $106,994,000 after acquiring an additional 81,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in IDEX by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 429,047 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,150,000 after acquiring an additional 15,659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IEX opened at $206.48 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $200.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.05. IDEX Co. has a 12-month low of $183.76 and a 12-month high of $246.36. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a PE ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.02. IDEX had a net margin of 18.19% and a return on equity of 16.87%. The firm had revenue of $807.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $828.15 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.18 EPS. IDEX’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 7.85 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 12th were given a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 12th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IEX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of IDEX from $250.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of IDEX from $265.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.50.

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.