Empowered Funds LLC Boosts Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 6.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in IDEX by 9,424.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $211,473,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021,439 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 75.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 519,124 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,179,000 after purchasing an additional 223,422 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 470,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $94,698,000 after purchasing an additional 78,551 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 436,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $93,640,000 after purchasing an additional 20,175 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management boosted its holdings in IDEX by 1.8% during the second quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 433,403 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $86,697,000 after buying an additional 7,615 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Price Performance

NYSE:IEX opened at $236.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $215.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.86. IDEX Co. has a 12 month low of $189.51 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.92% and a net margin of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IEX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer lowered 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 cut IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their target price on IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.14.

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.