BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Has $794,000 Stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 54.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,294 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in IDEX were worth $794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in IDEX by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,190,741 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $475,632,000 after purchasing an additional 84,502 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of IDEX by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,143,583 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $237,890,000 after acquiring an additional 36,928 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of IDEX during the 4th quarter valued at $237,425,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in IDEX by 6.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 785,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $163,445,000 after acquiring an additional 45,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt grew its holdings in IDEX by 420.8% in the fourth quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 781,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $169,600,000 after purchasing an additional 631,172 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE IEX opened at $217.92 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $231.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $220.06. IDEX Co. has a 12 month low of $183.76 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.67, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.99.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.12. IDEX had a net margin of 17.89% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $801.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.52 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. IDEX’s payout ratio is presently 36.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of IDEX in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on IDEX from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $215.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.71.

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.