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IDEX Rewards Shareholders With 16% Quarterly Dividend Hike

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IDEX Corporation (IEX - Free Report) has announced that it is rewarding shareholders in the form of a hike in the quarterly dividend rate. We believe that such shareholder-friendly policies reflect its strong cash position and its commitment toward returning high value to shareholders.

As revealed, the company’s board of directors approved 16% or 7 cents per share hike in the quarterly dividend rate, which now moved from 43 cents to 50 cents. On an annualized basis, the dividend increased to $2.00 per share from $1.72.

IDEX will pay the revised dividend on May 31, 2019, to shareholders of record as of May 17.

Sound Shareholder-Friendly Policies

The company rewards its shareholders mainly through dividend payments and share buybacks. Over the last three years (2016-2018), it hiked the dividend payment every year, with $1.34 per share distributed in 2016 and $1.66 paid in 2018. Also, the company’s spending on share buybacks totaled $173.9 million in 2018, up from $57.3 million in 2016.

In the first quarter of 2019, IDEX distributed dividends of $33 million while repurchased 370 thousand shares for $51.7 million. Also, exiting the first quarter, its share count was roughly 76.3 million.

We believe that further share buybacks and dividend payments will keep investors interested in the stock.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

With a market capitalization of $11.7 billion, IDEX currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In the past three months, the company’s shares have increased 9.5%, in line with the industry.



 

Further, in the past 30 days, earnings estimates for IDEX have increased 1.6% to $5.82 for 2019 and 0.3% to $6.15 for 2020. On a year-over-year basis, estimates reflect growth of 7.6% for 2019 and 5.8% for 2020.

IDEX Corporation Price and Consensus

 

IDEX Corporation Price and Consensus

IDEX Corporation price-consensus-chart | IDEX Corporation Quote

Some better-ranked stocks in the industry are Roper Technologies, Inc. (ROP - Free Report) , DXP Enterprises, Inc. (DXPE - Free Report) and Dover Corporation (DOV - Free Report) . While Roper currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), DXP Enterprises and Dover carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

In the past 60 days, earnings estimates for all three stocks have improved for the current year. Further, average earnings surprise for the last four quarters was positive 48.47% for DXP Enterprises, 8.43% for Roper and 8.61% for Dover.

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