Port Capital LLC Acquires 3,489 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Port Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 194,140 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,489 shares during the quarter. IDEX accounts for about 1.9% of Port Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Port Capital LLC owned about 0.26% of IDEX worth $40,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in IDEX by 146.7% in the 4th 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. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in IDEX in the 4th quarter worth about $234,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in IDEX in the 4th quarter worth about $1,043,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its stake in IDEX by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 3,154 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 179.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 36,570 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,654,000 after acquiring an additional 23,505 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho set a $175.00 price objective on IDEX in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.25.

IDEX Trading Up 0.7%

IEX traded up $1.28 on Friday, hitting $190.84. 421,473 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 581,710. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $200.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.53. IDEX Co. has a 12 month low of $153.36 and a 12 month high of $238.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.42 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.11. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. The business had revenue of $814.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.25 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. IDEX's revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.71 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. IDEX's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.01%.

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.