Rafferty Asset Management LLC Has $1.48 Million Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,070 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $1,480,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. acquired a new position in IDEX during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in IDEX during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in IDEX by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in IDEX by 129.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 417 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC raised its stake in IDEX by 24,700.0% during the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 496 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on IEX shares. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on IDEX in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.50.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of IEX opened at $188.04 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $153.36 and a 1 year high of $238.22. The stock has a market cap of $14.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $177.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $200.29.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.11. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. The firm had revenue of $814.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $807.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. This is a positive change from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.01%.

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.