Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Grows Position in IDEX Corporation $IEX

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) by 1,013.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,467 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 12,258 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $2,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Salvus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in IDEX in the 3rd quarter valued at about $242,000. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of IDEX in the third quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 3.6% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 19,122 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,112,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Financial Group purchased a new position in IDEX during the third quarter worth approximately $289,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in IDEX by 273.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 55,047 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,959,000 after buying an additional 40,309 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on IEX. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on IDEX from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of IDEX in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of IDEX from $197.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of IDEX in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of IDEX from $204.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $196.86.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IEX stock opened at $180.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 2.06 and a current ratio of 2.93. The firm has a market cap of $13.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $171.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.62. IDEX Corporation has a one year low of $153.36 and a one year high of $226.04.

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

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.94%.

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

About IDEX

IDEX Corporation is a diversified industrial manufacturer specializing in the design, production and distribution of highly engineered fluidics systems, measurement technologies and safety solutions. The company’s core offerings include positive-displacement pumps, flow meters, valves, sampling systems and analytical instruments that serve a wide range of end markets such as water treatment, chemical processing, energy, food and beverage, and life sciences. Through its focus on precision engineering and proprietary material science, IDEX delivers products designed for reliability in demanding applications.

Operations at IDEX are organized into three principal segments.