Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Grows Stock Holdings in IDEX Corporation $IEX

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its position in shares of IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 153,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,826 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned about 0.20% of IDEX worth $26,959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 235.5% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,899 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in shares of IDEX in the first quarter valued at about $909,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of IDEX in the second quarter valued at about $275,000. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 16.2% in the first quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 55,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,025,000 after purchasing an additional 7,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in IDEX by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 101,019 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,736,000 after purchasing an additional 13,294 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IDEX stock opened at $162.96 on Tuesday. IDEX Corporation has a 12 month low of $153.36 and a 12 month high of $237.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.04. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.13.

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

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.94%.

IDEX announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to reacquire up to 8.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer set a $210.00 price objective on IDEX in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. DA Davidson set a $180.00 price target on shares of IDEX and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of IDEX in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.