KBC Group NV Trims Holdings in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX)

KBC Group NV cut its position in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 53.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,394 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 9,449 shares during the period. KBC Group NV's holdings in IDEX were worth $1,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in IDEX by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 640,717 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $134,096,000 after acquiring an additional 73,540 shares during the period. Snyder Capital Management L P grew its holdings in IDEX by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P now owns 480,193 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $100,500,000 after acquiring an additional 52,259 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in IDEX by 49.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 915 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in IDEX by 129.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 417 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in IDEX by 0.7% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,332 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,508,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on IDEX in a report on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 target price on IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, IDEX presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $212.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at IDEX

In other news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of the firm'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 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 available through this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX stock traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $181.25. 224,051 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 596,420. The company has a market cap of $13.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's 50 day moving average is $180.68 and its 200 day moving average is $189.20. IDEX Corporation has a 12-month low of $153.36 and a 12-month 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.11. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. IDEX's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.01%.

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.