Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $2,533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in IDEX during the 3rd quarter worth about $86,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in IDEX by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in IDEX during the third quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp lifted its holdings in IDEX by 475.0% in the third quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp now owns 460 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $178.18 on Friday. IDEX Co. has a 52-week low of $177.71 and a 52-week high of $246.36. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $210.93. The firm has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.99.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. Equities analysts predict that IDEX Co. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.