24,307 Shares in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Bought by Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 24,307 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,087,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 275.5% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 4,243 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the 4th quarter worth $23,198,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,460,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the 4th quarter worth $269,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the 4th quarter worth $86,000. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX opened at $180.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $13.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $153.36 and a 1 year high of $238.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $176.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.56.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $814.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $807.25 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.88 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This is an increase from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IEX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson decreased their target price on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on IDEX in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 target price on IDEX in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.50.

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.