IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 95,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,820 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $20,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in IDEX by 247.0% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 198,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,872,000 after purchasing an additional 141,064 shares in the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,627,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 162.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 101,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,433,000 after acquiring an additional 62,803 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of IDEX by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 168,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,041,000 after acquiring an additional 4,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in IDEX by 48.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,426,000 after purchasing an additional 6,720 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:IEX opened at $212.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.86, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.97. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $189.51 and a 1 year high of $246.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $221.60 and a 200-day moving average of $209.34.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.05 million. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. IDEX’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. Equities analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on IEX. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.14.

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.