Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Raises Stock Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in IDEX were worth $1,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 125,348 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,190,741 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $475,632,000 after acquiring an additional 84,502 shares during the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 1,564 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 244,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,884,000 after acquiring an additional 28,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 76,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $16,601,000 after acquiring an additional 7,684 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of IDEX in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $215.00 to $265.00 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.78.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IEX opened at $224.64 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $17.00 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $236.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.55. IDEX Co. has a one year low of $183.76 and a one year high of $246.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 2.89.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $801.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.52 million. IDEX had a net margin of 17.89% and a return on equity of 17.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

About IDEX

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.