First Trust Advisors LP Buys 105,960 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,056,677 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 105,960 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 1.40% of IDEX worth $221,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in IDEX by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 129.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 417 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan purchased a new stake in IDEX in the fourth quarter worth $105,000. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at $123,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in IDEX by 49.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 590 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company's stock.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of IEX stock traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $173.32. The company had a trading volume of 187,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 563,178. 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $179.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.67. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $153.36 and a 52-week high of $238.22. The company has a market capitalization of $13.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.05.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 16.08%. Equities research analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on IEX. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho set a $175.00 price objective on shares of IDEX in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $217.13.

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.