IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Purchased by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 69.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,975 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,925 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in IDEX were worth $6,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of IDEX by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 168,023 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $36,041,000 after acquiring an additional 4,465 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of IDEX by 48.3% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,632 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,426,000 after acquiring an additional 6,720 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of IDEX by 7.1% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 250,443 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $53,720,000 after acquiring an additional 16,504 shares during the last quarter. Covea Finance grew its position in shares of IDEX by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 14,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,035,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 30,250 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE IEX traded up $2.41 on Wednesday, hitting $198.78. The company had a trading volume of 415,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 542,983. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. IDEX Co. has a 12-month low of $189.51 and a 12-month high of $246.36. The business has a 50 day moving average of $211.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, equities research analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on IEX shares. Citigroup cut their price target on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $241.71.

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.