Short Interest in IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Decreases By 9.0%

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, a drop of 9.0% from the November 15th total of 1,560,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 581,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

IDEX Stock Down 0.8 %

IDEX stock traded down $1.82 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $222.26. 898,664 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 486,250. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. IDEX has a twelve month low of $189.51 and a twelve month high of $246.36. The company has a market cap of $16.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $221.47 and a 200-day moving average of $209.09.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $798.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $793.05 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.92% and a net margin of 15.35%. IDEX’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that IDEX will post 7.89 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,017,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $647,356,000 after buying an additional 15,077 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 108.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,830,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $607,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,456 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,891,175 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $404,339,000 after purchasing an additional 23,388 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 28.8% during 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 period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in IDEX by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,177,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $252,603,000 after buying an additional 14,360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on IEX shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.14.

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.