Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Increases Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 168,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,465 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of IDEX worth $36,041,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its holdings in IDEX by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 223,892 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,047,000 after buying an additional 7,222 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 247.0% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 198,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,872,000 after acquiring an additional 141,064 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in IDEX during the second quarter valued at $3,627,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in IDEX by 162.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 101,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,433,000 after acquiring an additional 62,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in IDEX in the 1st quarter worth $11,765,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

NYSE:IEX opened at $227.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $212.21 and its 200 day moving average is $207.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.96. IDEX Co. has a fifty-two week low of $189.51 and a fifty-two week high of $246.36.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on IEX. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson cut their price target on IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Argus downgraded IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.14.

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.