Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 8,430 Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,105 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,430 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.10% of IDEX worth $16,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in IDEX by 1.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,289 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC grew its stake in IDEX by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC now owns 1,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in IDEX by 2.8% during the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 2,360 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc now owns 2,833 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of IDEX by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

IDEX Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of IDEX stock opened at $222.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.82 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 3.37, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $232.47 and its 200 day moving average is $219.32. IDEX Co. has a 1 year low of $183.76 and a 1 year high of $246.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $801.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $807.52 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 17.89%. IDEX’s revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. This is an increase from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $215.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com raised IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of IDEX from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $250.71.

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.