IDEX (NYSE:IEX) Price Target Raised to $269.00

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) had its target price boosted by Citigroup from $251.00 to $269.00 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on IEX. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Argus downgraded shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $232.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.14.

IDEX Price Performance

NYSE IEX opened at $228.01 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $17.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.30, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.96. IDEX has a 12 month low of $189.51 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $220.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued 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 company had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.05 million. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. IDEX’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that IDEX will post 7.89 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDEX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in IDEX by 108.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,830,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $607,234,000 after buying an additional 1,472,456 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in IDEX by 9,424.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,021,439 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in IDEX by 28.8% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,223,676 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $262,479,000 after purchasing an additional 273,460 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position 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 valued at $104,179,000 after buying an additional 223,422 shares during the period. Finally, DF Dent & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of IDEX during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,747,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

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.