Ethic Inc. Invests $225,000 in IDEX Corporation $IEX

Ethic Inc. acquired a new position in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,278 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of IDEX by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 14,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,666,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 49.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 915 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of IDEX during the first quarter valued at approximately $909,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of IDEX during the second quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 16.2% during the first quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 55,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,025,000 after purchasing an additional 7,726 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

IDEX Trading Down 1.6%

IDEX stock opened at $170.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.93, a quick ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.19. IDEX Corporation has a 12 month low of $153.36 and a 12 month high of $238.22. The company has a market capitalization of $12.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.04.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its earnings results on Friday, December 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.97%.The business had revenue of $712.00 million for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to buy up to 8.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 45.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of IDEX in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on IDEX from $208.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. DA Davidson set a $180.00 price target on IDEX and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on IDEX from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $210.00 price target on IDEX in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.86.

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.