First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Sells 66 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. decreased its position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 5.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,069 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in IDEX by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in IDEX by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in IDEX by 31.0% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mascoma Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 97.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX opened at $224.71 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average of $207.36 and a 200 day moving average of $207.31. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $189.33 and a 52-week high of $246.36. The stock has a market cap of $17.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.96.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.05 million. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 11th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IEX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Argus cut IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, October 31st. Three 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, IDEX has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.14.

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.