Savant Capital LLC Invests $290,000 in IDEX Corporation $IEX

Savant Capital LLC acquired a new position in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,653 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IEX. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in IDEX by 19.1% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in IDEX by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. South Dakota Investment Council purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 1st quarter worth approximately $353,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in IDEX by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 5,817 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,053,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 5.5% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 428,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $77,619,000 after buying an additional 22,271 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of IEX opened at $161.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.04. IDEX Corporation has a 52 week low of $153.36 and a 52 week high of $237.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $165.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.13, a current ratio of 2.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.97%.The company had revenue of $712.00 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to purchase up to 8.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is 44.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of IDEX in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson set a $180.00 price target on IDEX and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Oppenheimer set a $210.00 price objective on IDEX in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on IDEX from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of IDEX from $204.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.86.

IDEX Company 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.