Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Decreases Stock Position in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund cut its position in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) by 16.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,000 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in IDEX were worth $5,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in IEX. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. bought a new position in IDEX during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in IDEX by 81.0% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in IDEX by 63.5% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 224 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in IDEX during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in IDEX by 42.9% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on IEX. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of IDEX from $238.00 to $204.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $224.00 to $212.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of IDEX from $208.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. DA Davidson set a $180.00 target price on shares of IDEX and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.71.

IDEX Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:IEX opened at $164.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 2.13 and a current ratio of 3.05. IDEX Corporation has a 1-year low of $153.36 and a 1-year high of $238.22. The company’s fifty day moving average is $175.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.04.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.07. IDEX had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The business had revenue of $865.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $858.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, July 11th were issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at IDEX

In related news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.89, for a total value of $45,222.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 5,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $910,781.15. This trade represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.