IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 892,200 shares, an increase of 27.6% from the May 15th total of 699,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 399,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

IDEX Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE IEX traded up $1.38 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $199.61. 124,760 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 404,760. IDEX has a 52 week low of $183.76 and a 52 week high of $246.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $219.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $221.54. The stock has a market cap of $15.11 billion, a PE ratio of 26.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.45, a current ratio of 3.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.12. IDEX had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 17.89%. The business had revenue of $801.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that IDEX will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. IDEX’s payout ratio is 36.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IEX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 7.5% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 555,250 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,190,741 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $475,632,000 after purchasing an additional 84,502 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $237,425,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 6.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 785,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $163,445,000 after purchasing an additional 45,120 shares during the period. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 420.8% in the fourth quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 781,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $169,600,000 after purchasing an additional 631,172 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on IEX. Citigroup raised their price target on IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on IDEX from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com raised IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, IDEX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.71.

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.