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

Shares of IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $241.14.

A number of research firms have weighed in on IEX. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of IDEX from $236.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus cut shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDEX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 9,424.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $211,473,000 after buying an additional 1,021,439 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in IDEX by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,964,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,943,609,000 after acquiring an additional 555,250 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 75.6% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 519,124 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,179,000 after purchasing an additional 223,422 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 247.0% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 198,170 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,872,000 after purchasing an additional 141,064 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 1,541.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 138,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,915,000 after purchasing an additional 130,292 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IDEX stock opened at $219.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.58 billion, a PE ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.96. IDEX has a 12 month low of $189.33 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $207.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.92% and a net margin of 15.35%. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that IDEX will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were paid a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. IDEX’s payout ratio is presently 42.72%.

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.