Bank of America Corp DE Decreases Stock Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Bank of America Corp DE lowered its holdings in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 23.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 410,546 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 124,213 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.54% of IDEX worth $85,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in IDEX by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in IDEX by 129.1% in 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 during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in IDEX by 24,700.0% in the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 496 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $105,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company's stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

IDEX stock traded up $1.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $190.84. 421,473 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 581,710. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $176.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $200.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.42 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07. IDEX Co. has a one year low of $153.36 and a one year high of $238.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $814.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.25 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. IDEX's quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from IDEX's previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. IDEX's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 target price on IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho set a $175.00 target price on IDEX in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.25.

IDEX Company 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.