Montanaro Asset Management Ltd Purchases 2,300 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Montanaro Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 54,400 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares during the quarter. IDEX comprises about 2.1% of Montanaro Asset Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Montanaro Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.07% of IDEX worth $11,669,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in IDEX by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of IDEX during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of IDEX during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on IEX shares. Argus lowered IDEX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $241.14.

IDEX Stock Performance

NYSE:IEX traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $228.51. The stock had a trading volume of 488,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 517,405. IDEX Co. has a 12-month low of $189.33 and a 12-month high of $246.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $209.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.97. The stock has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.96.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.92% and a net margin of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.05 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th were issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. IDEX's payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

About IDEX

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.