Nordea Investment Management AB Raises Stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 862,625 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 43,786 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 1.14% of IDEX worth $181,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of IEX. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in IDEX during the third quarter worth $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 19.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in IDEX in the third quarter valued at about $86,000. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company's stock.

IDEX Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of IDEX stock traded down $1.03 on Tuesday, reaching $208.29. The company had a trading volume of 652,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 486,512. 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 firm has a market cap of $15.77 billion, a PE ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $222.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.81. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $189.51 and a 52-week high of $246.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $793.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. IDEX's dividend payout ratio is presently 42.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on IEX shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $243.14.

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.