Entropy Technologies LP Invests $1.46 Million in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX)

Key Points

• Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in IDEX Corporation, purchasing 8,078 shares valued at approximately $1.46 million in the first quarter.
• IDEX reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.07, exceeding analysts' estimates of $2.00, with a revenue increase of 7.2% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.8% and a payout ratio of 45.88%.

Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,078 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,462,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,666,777 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $767,421,000 after acquiring an additional 277,964 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in IDEX by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,006,724 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $363,157,000 after acquiring an additional 207,172 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in IDEX by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,868,919 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $391,147,000 after purchasing an additional 17,087 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,545,463 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $279,682,000 after acquiring an additional 206,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in IDEX by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,194,125 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $249,922,000 after acquiring an additional 16,480 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of IDEX from $238.00 to $204.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson set a $180.00 target price on IDEX and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on IDEX from $207.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.71.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IEX traded down $2.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $167.23. The company had a trading volume of 828,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 676,517. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 3.05 and a quick ratio of 2.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $176.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.04. IDEX Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $153.36 and a fifty-two week high of $238.22.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.07. IDEX had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The firm had revenue of $865.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $858.59 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.06 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, July 11th were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 11th. IDEX's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.89, for a total transaction of $45,222.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 5,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $910,781.15. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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.