IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Sold by Heartland Bank & Trust Co

Heartland Bank & Trust Co reduced its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,592 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 61 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in IDEX were worth $333,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of IEX. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in IDEX by 44.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,848 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,981,000 after acquiring an additional 3,012 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 73.5% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in IDEX by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 88,276 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,053,000 after purchasing an additional 16,868 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in IDEX by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 14,487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,915,000 after buying an additional 5,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in IDEX by 1.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 25,227 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,076,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IEX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.86.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $220.22 on Monday. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $189.51 and a 1 year high of $246.36. The firm has a market cap of $16.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.09, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $219.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.38. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.92% and a net margin of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. IDEX’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors 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 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s payout ratio is 42.72%.

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.