IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Purchased by Covea Finance

Covea Finance boosted its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 70.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the quarter. Covea Finance's holdings in IDEX were worth $3,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 73.8% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in IDEX in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 100.0% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of IDEX by 19.9% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the third quarter worth about $86,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company's stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IEX traded down $0.10 on Wednesday, reaching $214.44. 465,707 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 507,522. The business's 50-day moving average is $221.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. IDEX Co. has a fifty-two week low of $189.51 and a fifty-two week high of $246.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. IDEX's quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. IDEX's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on IEX. Citigroup lowered their price objective on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, IDEX presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $242.86.

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.