Guidance Capital Inc. Buys New Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Guidance Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,048 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $890,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 last quarter. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in IDEX in the third quarter valued at $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted 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 during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 3rd quarter worth about $86,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 3rd quarter worth about $89,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $241.00.

IDEX Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE IEX traded down $3.67 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $195.65. The stock had a trading volume of 856,052 shares, compared to its average volume of 482,422. The company has a market capitalization of $14.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.42, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.97. IDEX Co. has a 1-year low of $189.51 and a 1-year high of $246.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $216.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.85.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. On average, analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. IDEX's payout ratio is currently 41.50%.

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.