IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Short Interest Update

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) saw a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,320,000 shares, an increase of 69.5% from the September 15th total of 778,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 562,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of IDEX from $265.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.29.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDEX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IEX. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in IDEX in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in IDEX in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 100.0% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IEX traded up $0.85 on Monday, hitting $212.34. 66,205 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 464,277. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $202.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $210.27. IDEX has a one year low of $183.76 and a one year high of $246.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.95.

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

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 11th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.32%.

IDEX Company Profile

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.