Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Reduces Stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lessened its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 77.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,888 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 69,110 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in IDEX were worth $4,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in IEX. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 9,424.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $211,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,439 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of IDEX by 75.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 519,124 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $104,179,000 after acquiring an additional 223,422 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 20.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 470,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,698,000 after acquiring an additional 78,551 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its stake in IDEX by 4.8% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 436,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $93,640,000 after purchasing an additional 20,175 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 433,403 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $86,697,000 after buying an additional 7,615 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $232.50 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $215.08 and its 200 day moving average is $207.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.99, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.96. IDEX Co. has a 52 week low of $189.51 and a 52 week high of $246.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.97.

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

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Argus lowered IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.14.

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.