Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Reduces Holdings in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. trimmed its stake in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,850 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 219 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in IDEX were worth $619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of IEX. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in IDEX during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in IDEX during the 4th quarter worth $54,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in IDEX by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 339 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in IDEX by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in IDEX during the 3rd quarter worth $86,000. 97.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IEX has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of IDEX in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $215.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.67.

IDEX Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $220.66 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 3.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. IDEX Co. has a 52 week low of $183.76 and a 52 week high of $246.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $236.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $216.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 17.89% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that IDEX Co. will post 8.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.