SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires 7,050 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 329.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,193 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,050 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in IDEX were worth $1,664,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of IEX. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 49.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 915 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new stake in IDEX during the first quarter worth approximately $3,382,000. Fenimore Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in IDEX by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 855,951 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $154,901,000 after acquiring an additional 16,444 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 63.5% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 224 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 36.3% during the first quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,712 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,843,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IEX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup cut their price objective on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $212.50.

IDEX Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:IEX traded up $1.99 on Monday, reaching $179.81. The company had a trading volume of 600,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 583,876. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $177.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.13. IDEX Co. has a twelve month low of $153.36 and a twelve month 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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $814.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.25 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from IDEX's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. IDEX's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.01%.

Insider Activity at IDEX

In other news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.89, for a total transaction of $45,222.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 5,035 shares of the company's stock, valued at $910,781.15. This trade represents a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.