IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 39.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 96,361 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 27,501 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.13% of IDEX worth $17,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in IDEX by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in IDEX by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 30,250 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,386,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in IDEX by 69.9% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 28,975 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,064,000 after buying an additional 11,925 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in IDEX by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 20,800 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,353,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC purchased a new position in IDEX during the fourth quarter worth $226,000. 97.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other IDEX news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.89, for a total transaction of $45,222.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,035 shares in the company, valued at $910,781.15. The trade was a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IEX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho set a $185.00 price objective on IDEX in a report on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $212.50.

IDEX Trading Down 2.6%

IDEX stock traded down $4.82 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $177.69. The stock had a trading volume of 650,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 582,962. IDEX Co. has a twelve month low of $153.36 and a twelve month high of $238.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.42 billion, a PE ratio of 26.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.06. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $177.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.64.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $814.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $807.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.88 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This is a boost from IDEX's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. IDEX's payout ratio is currently 45.01%.

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.