IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Short Interest Down 23.1% in February

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) was the target of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 984,800 shares, a decline of 23.1% from the January 31st total of 1,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 523,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

IDEX Stock Down 2.9 %

IDEX stock opened at $188.64 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $207.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.69. IDEX has a 1-year low of $188.11 and a 1-year high of $246.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.37, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.85.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that IDEX will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IEX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of IDEX during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. 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 worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of IDEX by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.