IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Short Interest Update

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) was the target of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,280,000 shares, an increase of 9.4% from the January 15th total of 1,170,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 557,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $195.21 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $212.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.53. IDEX has a 52 week low of $189.51 and a 52 week high of $246.36. The firm has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that IDEX will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of IDEX

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. bought a new stake in shares of IDEX during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in IDEX by 73.8% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in IDEX during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on IEX shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.00.

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.