IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) Stake Lifted by Blueshift Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Blueshift Asset Management LLC significantly increased its holdings in IDEX Corporation by 117.5% during Q1, owning 3,097 shares worth approximately $560,000.
• Analysts have set a new consensus target price for IDEX shares at $209.63, with the stock receiving multiple "buy" ratings and a "Moderate Buy" consensus rating.
• IDEX announced a quarterly dividend payment of $0.71 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 1.8% and a payout ratio of 45.88%.

Blueshift Asset Management LLC grew its stake in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 117.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,097 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,673 shares during the quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC's holdings in IDEX were worth $560,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of IDEX by 8.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 277,964 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 207,172 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of IDEX by 1.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 21,758 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $391,147,000 after purchasing an additional 17,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of IDEX by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,194,125 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $249,922,000 after purchasing an additional 16,480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company's stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

NYSE IEX traded down $4.48 on Friday, hitting $159.03. The stock had a trading volume of 1,319,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 838,615. IDEX Corporation has a one year low of $153.36 and a one year high of $238.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 3.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market cap of $11.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.04. The company's 50-day moving average is $179.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.77.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $858.59 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.06 EPS. IDEX's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. IDEX's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on IEX shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of IDEX from $208.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $207.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho set a $185.00 price objective on shares of IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on shares of IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $238.00 to $204.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $209.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.89, for a total value of $45,222.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 5,035 shares in the company, valued at $910,781.15. This trade represents a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.