Covea Finance Buys 3,500 Shares of IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX)

Covea Finance lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 24.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Covea Finance's holdings in IDEX were worth $3,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of IEX. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. acquired a new stake in IDEX during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of IDEX by 81.0% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 143 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 63.5% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 224 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in IDEX in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in IDEX by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other IDEX news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. This trade represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IEX. Citigroup reduced their price objective on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho set a $185.00 price target on IDEX in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $212.50.

IDEX Stock Performance

IEX stock traded up $2.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $174.97. The stock had a trading volume of 501,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 595,154. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.22 billion, a PE ratio of 27.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $178.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.84. IDEX Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $153.36 and a fifty-two week high of $238.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 1.99.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 15.51% and a net margin of 14.60%. The business's revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. Analysts predict that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 11th. IDEX's payout ratio is presently 45.01%.

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.