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

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, a drop of 9.0% from the November 15th total of 1,560,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 581,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of IEX stock traded down $1.82 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $222.26. The company had a trading volume of 898,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 486,250. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $221.47 and its 200 day moving average is $209.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.96. IDEX has a 12 month low of $189.51 and a 12 month high of $246.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that IDEX will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on IEX. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IEX. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in IDEX by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX during the second quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in IDEX by 38.4% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

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.