Covea Finance Buys 6,000 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Covea Finance boosted its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 70.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 14,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Covea Finance’s holdings in IDEX were worth $3,035,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in IDEX in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in IDEX by 19.9% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in IDEX during the third quarter worth about $86,000. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on IEX. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.86.

IDEX Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of IEX stock opened at $214.55 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.25 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.97. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $189.51 and a 52-week high of $246.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $221.40 and its 200 day moving average is $210.02. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $793.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.