Empowered Funds LLC Increases Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,295 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in IEX. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 73.8% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of IDEX in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of IDEX in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Whittier Trust Co. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in IDEX by 100.0% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on IEX shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Argus downgraded IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.14.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IDEX stock opened at $236.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 2.46 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 quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $215.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.86.

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

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s payout ratio is 42.72%.

IDEX 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.