IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 95,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,820 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of IDEX worth $20,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Studio Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 4.9% in the third quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 955 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $205,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 31.0% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of IDEX by 19.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 38.4% during the second 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 during the period. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in IDEX by 73.8% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IEX stock opened at $212.28 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $16.07 billion, a PE ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $221.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $209.34. IDEX Co. has a 52 week low of $189.51 and a 52 week high of $246.36.

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

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.14.

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.