ING Groep NV Grows Stock Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

ING Groep NV raised its holdings in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 174.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,125 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 38,239 shares during the period. ING Groep NV owned about 0.08% of IDEX worth $12,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 3.3% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 223,892 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $45,047,000 after purchasing an additional 7,222 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of IDEX by 247.0% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 198,170 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $39,872,000 after acquiring an additional 141,064 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new position in IDEX during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,627,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of IDEX by 162.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 101,558 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $20,433,000 after buying an additional 62,803 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in IDEX in the first quarter worth $11,765,000. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on IEX. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Argus downgraded IDEX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $241.14.

IDEX Stock Down 0.7 %

IDEX stock traded down $1.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $227.83. The company had a trading volume of 1,895,844 shares, compared to its average volume of 480,285. IDEX Co. has a 12 month low of $189.51 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $212.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.77. The company has a market capitalization of $17.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.96.

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

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. IDEX's dividend payout ratio is 42.72%.

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.