Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Purchases New Stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV purchased a new position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of IEX. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in IDEX by 31.0% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. grew 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in IDEX by 0.5% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,247,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in IDEX by 1.0% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 6,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Price Performance

NYSE:IEX opened at $208.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.41. IDEX Co. has a 52 week low of $183.76 and a 52 week high of $246.36. The firm has a market cap of $15.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $202.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.99.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $807.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $828.15 million. IDEX had a net margin of 18.19% and a return on equity of 16.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.18 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 11th. IDEX’s payout ratio is 36.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IEX has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on IDEX from $250.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on IDEX from $265.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.29.

IDEX Company 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.