HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 2,357 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,304 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 2,357 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in IDEX were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in IDEX by 3.2% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in IDEX by 1,373.9% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 339 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC raised its position in IDEX by 7,940.0% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 402 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in IDEX by 17.9% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 110,078 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $22,148,000 after acquiring an additional 16,720 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in IDEX by 38.4% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 728 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $243.14.

IDEX Price Performance

NYSE:IEX traded down $1.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $223.00. 455,777 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 481,796. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $220.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.52, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.96. IDEX Co. has a 1-year low of $189.51 and a 1-year 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.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $793.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. IDEX's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

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.