Man Group plc Sells 36,694 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Man Group plc trimmed its position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 81.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,223 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 36,694 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc's holdings in IDEX were worth $1,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,306,008 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,947,654,000 after acquiring an additional 63,432 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 49.1% during 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,912,933 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $399,350,000 after acquiring an additional 21,758 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 0.9% during the 4th 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. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of IEX traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $180.92. 79,022 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 581,769. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $176.73 and a 200-day moving average of $198.56. IDEX Co. has a one year low of $153.36 and a one year high of $238.22. The firm has a market cap of $13.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.20, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.85.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.88 earnings per share. IDEX's revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. This is a positive change from IDEX's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. IDEX's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on IEX. Mizuho set a $185.00 price objective on IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $212.50.

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.