GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 589 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,639 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 589 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $3,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of IEX. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in IDEX in the third quarter worth $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 100.0% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of IDEX during the 3rd quarter worth about $86,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX in the 3rd quarter valued at about $89,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IEX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup cut their price target on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.00.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX stock opened at $198.89 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $211.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The stock has a market cap of $15.06 billion, a PE ratio of 30.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.97. IDEX Co. has a one year low of $189.51 and a one year high of $246.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.92% and a net margin of 15.35%. On average, analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

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.