IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Shares Bought by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 203,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,930 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $43,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IEX. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in IDEX by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 1,373.9% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 339 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 110,078 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,148,000 after buying an additional 16,720 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 38.4% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 728 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.14.

IDEX Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:IEX opened at $222.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $16.83 billion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $221.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $209.09. IDEX Co. has a fifty-two week low of $189.51 and a fifty-two week high of $246.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The company had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. IDEX’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.72%.

IDEX Company 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.