Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 2.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 168,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,465 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $36,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in IDEX by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in shares of IDEX during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of IDEX during the second quarter valued at $41,000. Whittier Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 38.4% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in IDEX by 100.0% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IEX opened at $227.83 on Friday. IDEX Co. has a 12 month low of $189.51 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $212.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $207.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $17.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.96.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.05 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.92% and a net margin of 15.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on IEX shares. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus downgraded shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research 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, IDEX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.14.

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.