Prudential PLC Raises Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Prudential PLC boosted its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 9.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,959 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC owned approximately 0.06% of IDEX worth $8,847,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 7.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,964,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,943,609,000 after acquiring an additional 555,250 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX during the 4th quarter worth about $237,425,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of IDEX by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 492,810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $106,994,000 after buying an additional 81,780 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 429,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,145,000 after buying an additional 15,633 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management boosted its position in IDEX by 7.7% during the first quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 425,788 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,460,000 after acquiring an additional 30,277 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX opened at $197.06 on Tuesday. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $183.76 and a 52-week high of $246.36. The company has a 50 day moving average of $200.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $215.64. The company has a market cap of $14.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $807.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $828.15 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.87% and a net margin of 18.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.18 EPS. On average, analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 12th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 12th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 36.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on IEX shares. Oppenheimer cut their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on IDEX from $250.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Argus lowered shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of IDEX from $265.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.50.

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.