IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $238.78.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of IDEX in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th.

Institutional Trading of IDEX

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in IDEX by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,805 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,888,000 after acquiring an additional 3,543 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of IDEX by 3.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,719 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of IDEX by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 701 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems bought a new position in IDEX in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,310,000. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new position in IDEX in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $585,000. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Price Performance

Shares of IEX stock opened at $232.37 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $236.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $216.50. The stock has a market cap of $17.59 billion, a PE ratio of 29.64, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.97. IDEX has a 52-week low of $183.76 and a 52-week high of $246.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 2.89.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.12. IDEX had a net margin of 18.21% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The company had revenue of $801.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.52 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that IDEX will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

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.