Millennium Management LLC Grows Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 179.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,570 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,505 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $7,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in IEX. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in IDEX by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 529,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $110,807,000 after acquiring an additional 29,085 shares during the period. Moore Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in IDEX in the fourth quarter worth $12,880,000. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in IDEX by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,127 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in IDEX in the fourth quarter worth $1,360,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in IDEX by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,816 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,846,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:IEX opened at $179.56 on Tuesday. IDEX Co. has a 1-year low of $153.36 and a 1-year high of $238.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $176.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $198.79. The company has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.07.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.11. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. The firm had revenue of $814.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $807.25 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This is an increase from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson dropped their price target on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho set a $185.00 price target on IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on IDEX in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on IDEX from $264.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.50.

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.