Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Stock Position in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 13.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 290,262 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 35,420 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.38% of IDEX worth $52,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in IDEX by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,592 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in IDEX by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 30,250 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,386,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in IDEX by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 20,800 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $4,353,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC bought a new stake in IDEX in the 4th quarter valued at about $226,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in IDEX by 133.2% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 406,637 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $85,105,000 after buying an additional 232,255 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at IDEX

In related news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.89, for a total value of $45,222.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

IDEX Stock Down 1.0%

IEX traded down $1.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $173.28. 2,463,247 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 594,044. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 2.79. The company's fifty day moving average price is $178.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $192.49. The company has a market cap of $13.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.06. IDEX Corporation has a one year low of $153.36 and a one year high of $238.22.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.11. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.51% and a net margin of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $814.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. The company's revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. IDEX's payout ratio is presently 45.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

IDEX 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.