Quest Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Quest Partners LLC lowered its position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 78.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,896 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 13,862 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC's holdings in IDEX were worth $836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IEX. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX during the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake 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 worth $42,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake 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 worth $43,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on IEX. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $241.14.

IDEX Stock Performance

NYSE IEX traded up $5.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $232.50. 409,740 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 481,718. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $189.51 and a 1 year high of $246.36. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $215.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.96.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million during 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%. The company's revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. IDEX's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.