IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Bought by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 131,637 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,793 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.17% of IDEX worth $27,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in IEX. 111 Capital purchased a new position in IDEX during the fourth quarter worth about $1,016,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in IDEX by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,925 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in IDEX during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,087,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its stake in IDEX by 275.5% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 4,243 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in IDEX during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $23,198,000. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IEX traded down $2.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $178.70. The company had a trading volume of 557,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 579,948. The stock has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.87, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07. IDEX Co. has a 12 month low of $153.36 and a 12 month high of $238.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $176.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.11.

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

IDEX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. This is an increase from IDEX's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. IDEX's payout ratio is presently 45.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup decreased their target price on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on IDEX in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, IDEX currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $212.50.

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.