Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 6,720 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 48.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 20,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 6,720 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $4,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of IEX. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in IDEX by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 955 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 31.0% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in IDEX by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in IDEX by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IEX. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Argus downgraded IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.14.

IDEX Stock Performance

IEX stock opened at $231.10 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.07. 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 one year low of $189.51 and a one year high of $246.36. The firm has a market cap of $17.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.77, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.96.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.05 million. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. IDEX’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.72%.

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.