Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Lowers Stake in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in shares of IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) by 12.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,541 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 503 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in IDEX were worth $641,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,666,777 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $767,421,000 after acquiring an additional 277,964 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 11.5% in the first quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,006,724 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $363,157,000 after acquiring an additional 207,172 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,868,919 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $391,147,000 after acquiring an additional 17,087 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,056,677 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $221,152,000 after acquiring an additional 105,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fenimore Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 2.0% in the first quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 855,951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $154,901,000 after acquiring an additional 16,444 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Stock Up 3.8%

IEX stock opened at $169.48 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $12.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.04. IDEX Corporation has a 52 week low of $153.36 and a 52 week high of $238.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $176.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.04. The company has a current ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 11th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 11th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. IDEX’s payout ratio is presently 45.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of IDEX from $208.00 to $216.00 and gave the company 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 company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on shares of IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of IDEX from $238.00 to $204.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho set a $185.00 price objective on shares of IDEX in a report on Friday, May 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, IDEX currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.71.

Insider Transactions at IDEX

In other IDEX news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of IDEX stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.89, for a total transaction of $45,222.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 5,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $910,781.15. The trade was a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.