JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Stock Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 63.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 295,574 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 502,880 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $63,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in IDEX by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,017,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $647,356,000 after buying an additional 15,077 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 108.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,830,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $607,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,456 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,891,175 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $404,339,000 after buying an additional 23,388 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in IDEX by 28.8% during the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,223,676 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $262,479,000 after buying an additional 273,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 1.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,177,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $252,603,000 after acquiring an additional 14,360 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $207.02 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $221.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $209.63. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $189.51 and a 12-month high of $246.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.96.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on IEX shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently 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.