PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lessened its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,677 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $4,650,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in IDEX by 9,424.6% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $211,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,439 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of IDEX by 75.6% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 519,124 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,179,000 after buying an additional 223,422 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of IDEX by 247.0% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 198,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,872,000 after buying an additional 141,064 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in IDEX by 1,541.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 138,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,915,000 after acquiring an additional 130,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its stake in IDEX by 25.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 416,375 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $83,775,000 after acquiring an additional 85,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IEX. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.14.

IDEX Stock Performance

IEX stock opened at $232.50 on Monday. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $189.51 and a 1 year high of $246.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.99, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $215.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.77.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. IDEX’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

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.