IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Position Lifted by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 61.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,530 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,376 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in IDEX were worth $2,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its position 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 worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of IDEX in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in shares of IDEX by 100.0% in 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. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in IDEX during the 3rd quarter valued at $86,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in IDEX during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $89,000. 97.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on IEX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup cut their price target on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, IDEX presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $241.00.

IDEX Stock Performance

NYSE:IEX traded down $1.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $193.83. 738,150 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 540,384. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.11. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $189.51 and a 52-week high of $246.36. The company's 50 day moving average price is $214.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.87.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. As a group, research analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current year.

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.