Metis Global Partners LLC Increases Stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,166 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $1,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 420.8% during the 4th quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 781,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $169,600,000 after buying an additional 631,172 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 316.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 368,849 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,667,000 after acquiring an additional 280,385 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of IDEX by 6,079.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 189,143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,065,000 after purchasing an additional 186,082 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in IDEX by 1,196.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 135,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,598,000 after buying an additional 125,348 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 112.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 201,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,672,000 after buying an additional 106,431 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

NYSE:IEX opened at $222.07 on Thursday. IDEX Co. has a 1-year low of $183.76 and a 1-year high of $246.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 3.37 and a quick ratio of 2.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $234.36 and a 200 day moving average of $217.91. The company has a market capitalization of $16.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.99.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $801.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $807.52 million. IDEX had a net margin of 17.89% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. IDEX’s payout ratio is 33.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on IEX. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $215.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on IDEX from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com lowered IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.71.

IDEX 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.