First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,056,677 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 105,960 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 1.40% of IDEX worth $221,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of IEX. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,214 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 4,532 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,210 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,300,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of IDEX by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,299 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company's stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IEX stock traded up $0.67 on Wednesday, hitting $167.07. The company had a trading volume of 1,068,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 562,303. The firm has a market cap of $12.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.05. IDEX Co. has a twelve month low of $153.36 and a twelve month high of $238.22. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $180.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $204.16. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 16.08%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on IEX. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $223.14.

IDEX 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.