MUFG Securities EMEA plc Purchases New Stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 17,799 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,581,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Albert D Mason Inc. boosted its position in IDEX by 1.0% during the first quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 4,509 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in IDEX by 31.0% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in IDEX by 38.4% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in IDEX by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,247,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its position in IDEX by 5.1% during the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:IEX traded up $1.30 on Friday, hitting $206.48. 501,627 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 512,492. The company has a current ratio of 3.41, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. IDEX Co. has a fifty-two week low of $183.76 and a fifty-two week high of $246.36. The stock has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a PE ratio of 27.17, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $200.15 and a 200-day moving average of $217.00.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $807.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $828.15 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.87% and a net margin of 18.19%. IDEX’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 12th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 12th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on IEX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on IDEX from $250.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on IDEX from $256.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on IDEX from $265.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.