Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Boosts Stock Position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 28,356.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,903 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,819 shares during the period. IDEX comprises 0.9% of Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in IDEX were worth $5,003,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of IEX. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in IDEX by 3.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 95,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,820 shares during the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV purchased a new position in shares of IDEX during the 3rd quarter valued at $283,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of IDEX during the 3rd quarter valued at $344,000. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IDEX during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IDEX during the 3rd quarter valued at $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson dropped their price target on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.71.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $187.36 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.29. IDEX Co. has a twelve month low of $183.24 and a twelve month high of $246.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.