DAVENPORT & Co LLC Grows Position in IDEX Corporation $IEX

DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,932 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 713 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $339,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in IDEX by 19.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,050,601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $914,007,000 after acquiring an additional 831,005 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in IDEX by 11.5% in the first quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,006,724 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $363,157,000 after acquiring an additional 207,172 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in IDEX by 15.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,545,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $279,682,000 after purchasing an additional 206,633 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in IDEX by 23.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,249,546 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $220,849,000 after purchasing an additional 236,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in IDEX by 2.9% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 769,341 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $139,228,000 after purchasing an additional 21,787 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Down 2.9%

IEX opened at $161.12 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 3.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $12.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.03, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.04. IDEX Corporation has a 52 week low of $153.36 and a 52 week high of $238.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.62.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, December 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $712.00 million for the quarter. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 14.05%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 8.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of IDEX in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on IDEX from $207.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson set a $180.00 target price on IDEX and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on IDEX from $238.00 to $204.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $210.00 target price on IDEX in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, IDEX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.43.

IDEX Profile

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.