Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Raises Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 168,023 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,465 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of IDEX worth $36,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in IDEX by 31.0% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 241 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in IDEX by 19.9% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its stake in IDEX by 38.4% during the second 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. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in IDEX by 73.8% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in IDEX by 1.0% during the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 6,476 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,303,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of IEX stock traded down $1.56 on Friday, hitting $227.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,896,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,573. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.27, a P/E/G 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's 50 day moving average price is $212.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.58.

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

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued 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 (DPR) is 42.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.