IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Acquired by Nicholas Company Inc.

Nicholas Company Inc. grew its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 86,753 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 5,103 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $18,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 4,532 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,210 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,300,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,299 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of IEX opened at $182.47 on Friday. IDEX Co. has a 1-year low of $177.71 and a 1-year high of $246.36. The stock has a market cap of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $202.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.60.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 16.08%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on IEX. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.71.

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.