BNP Paribas Financial Markets Reduces Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 125,101 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 6,871 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.17% of IDEX worth $26,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in IDEX by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,306,008 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,947,654,000 after purchasing an additional 63,432 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in IDEX by 49.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,219,596 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $883,119,000 after acquiring an additional 1,388,667 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of IDEX by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,666,777 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $767,421,000 after buying an additional 277,964 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in IDEX by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,912,933 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $399,350,000 after purchasing an additional 21,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,868,919 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $391,147,000 after acquiring an additional 17,087 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho set a $175.00 price objective on IDEX in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.25.

IDEX Stock Performance

IEX traded up $7.85 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $191.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 888,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 577,533. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.53. The firm has a market cap of $14.45 billion, a PE ratio of 28.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07. The company's 50-day moving average is $176.39 and its 200-day moving average is $201.21. IDEX Co. has a 52 week low of $153.36 and a 52 week high of $238.22.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.11. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. The company had revenue of $814.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $807.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. IDEX's revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This is a positive change from IDEX's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. IDEX's payout ratio is 43.74%.

About IDEX

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.