Commerce Bank Cuts Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Commerce Bank cut its holdings in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 59.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,455 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,071 shares during the period. Commerce Bank's holdings in IDEX were worth $741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of IDEX by 73.8% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new position in IDEX in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in IDEX by 100.0% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in IDEX in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in IDEX by 38.4% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on IEX. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price target on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus downgraded IDEX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $241.14.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IEX traded down $4.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $232.02. 482,289 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 482,790. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.86. IDEX Co. has a 1-year low of $189.51 and a 1-year high of $246.36. The firm has a market cap of $17.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.96.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.92% and a net margin of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.05 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. IDEX's payout ratio is 42.72%.

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.