IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 898,200 shares, a growth of 13.3% from the July 31st total of 793,000 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 521,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDEX

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 223,892 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,047,000 after buying an additional 7,222 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of IDEX by 177.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 57,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,431,000 after purchasing an additional 36,606 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in IDEX by 241.3% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 37,561 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,166,000 after purchasing an additional 26,557 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in IDEX by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 608,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,164,000 after purchasing an additional 15,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in IDEX by 90.1% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 69,984 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,077,000 after buying an additional 33,162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Up 0.6 %

IDEX stock traded up $1.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $206.48. The stock had a trading volume of 501,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 440,299. The company has a market capitalization of $15.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 3.41 and a quick ratio of 2.52. IDEX has a one year low of $183.76 and a one year high of $246.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $200.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $216.78.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.02. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.87% and a net margin of 18.19%. The business had revenue of $807.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $828.15 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that IDEX will post 7.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, July 12th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 12th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of IDEX from $265.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on IDEX from $250.00 to $236.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.50.

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.