Van ECK Associates Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 965,201 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 67,076 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 1.27% of IDEX worth $202,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 100.0% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in IDEX during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $86,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new stake in IDEX during the 3rd quarter worth $89,000. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IEX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of IEX stock opened at $193.83 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $214.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.74. The firm has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.97. IDEX Co. has a 1-year low of $189.51 and a 1-year high of $246.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.