IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $243.14.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IDEX stock opened at $211.11 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $221.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.96. IDEX has a fifty-two week low of $189.51 and a fifty-two week high of $246.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $798.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $793.05 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.92% and a net margin of 15.35%. IDEX’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that IDEX will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in IDEX by 247.0% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 198,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,872,000 after buying an additional 141,064 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of IDEX during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,627,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in IDEX by 162.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 101,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,433,000 after purchasing an additional 62,803 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 168,023 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,041,000 after purchasing an additional 4,465 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 48.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,632 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,426,000 after purchasing an additional 6,720 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.