Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 21,958 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,986 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $4,710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in IDEX by 3.3% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 223,892 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,047,000 after acquiring an additional 7,222 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 247.0% during the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 198,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,872,000 after purchasing an additional 141,064 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX in the 2nd quarter worth $3,627,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in IDEX by 162.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 101,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,433,000 after buying an additional 62,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in IDEX by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 168,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,041,000 after buying an additional 4,465 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on IEX. Citigroup raised their price target on IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.14.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $223.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.52, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.96. IDEX Co. has a 12 month low of $189.51 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $220.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.05 million. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s payout ratio is presently 42.72%.

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.