IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Sold by Shell Asset Management Co.

Shell Asset Management Co. decreased its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 52.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,212 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,342 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.'s holdings in IDEX were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in IEX. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 7,070 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new position in IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at $10,644,000. Port Capital LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 194,140 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $40,632,000 after acquiring an additional 3,489 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in IDEX by 146.7% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 8,873 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,857,000 after acquiring an additional 5,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in IDEX during the fourth quarter worth about $234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IEX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on 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 upped their target price on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. DA Davidson decreased their target price on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup decreased their target price on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on IDEX in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $212.50.

IDEX Stock Down 0.9%

IEX traded down $1.57 on Friday, reaching $179.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 421,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 584,161. The stock has a market cap of $13.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $153.36 and a 1 year high of $238.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The business's 50 day moving average is $176.87 and its 200 day moving average is $199.34.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.11. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. The firm had revenue of $814.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. IDEX's revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

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