Vest Financial LLC Has $2.84 Million Stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Vest Financial LLC grew its position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 36.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,712 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,182 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $2,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 81.0% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on IEX. DA Davidson cut their price target on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 target price on IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.50.

IDEX Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:IEX opened at $183.30 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $176.46 and a 200-day moving average of $196.30. The company has a market capitalization of $13.85 billion, a PE ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 2.53. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $153.36 and a 52-week high of $238.22.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $814.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.25 million. IDEX had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 16.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. This is an increase from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.01%.

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.