The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Trims Stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,364 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 193 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in IDEX were worth $9,731,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in IDEX by 301.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 6,902 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,684,000 after buying an additional 5,182 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in IDEX by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in IDEX during the second quarter worth approximately $233,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in IDEX by 6.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its position in shares of IDEX by 3.2% in the second quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IEX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus cut shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.14.

IDEX Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:IEX opened at $230.52 on Wednesday. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $189.51 and a 52-week high of $246.36. 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 $218.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.10. The stock has a market cap of $17.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.68, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.96.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.05 million. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. IDEX’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. IDEX’s payout ratio is 42.72%.

About IDEX

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.