IDEX (NYSE:IEX) Price Target Raised to $273.00

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) had its price target raised by Stifel Nicolaus from $267.00 to $273.00 in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Vertical Research assumed coverage on shares of IDEX in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp upgraded shares of IDEX to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of IDEX from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of IDEX from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of IDEX from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $263.64.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX stock opened at $233.73 on Thursday. IDEX has a 52-week low of $160.60 and a 52-week high of $243.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $230.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The industrial products company reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.09. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.18% and a net margin of 14.65%. The firm had revenue of $951.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $934.36 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that IDEX will post 8.94 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 16th. Investors of record on Friday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 2nd. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is 40.56%.

Insider Transactions at IDEX

In other IDEX news, CAO Lisa Anderson sold 385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.59, for a total value of $91,857.15. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,032,378.93. This trade represents a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDEX

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of IDEX during the second quarter worth approximately $1,301,393,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new position in IDEX in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $748,951,000. Amundi increased its position in IDEX by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,458,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $331,017,000 after acquiring an additional 239,579 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in IDEX by 215.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,094,101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $207,387,000 after acquiring an additional 746,732 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in IDEX by 101.4% in the 2nd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,042,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $236,641,000 after acquiring an additional 525,048 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Company Profile

IDEX Corporation is an industrial manufacturing company headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois. The company designs and produces engineered products and technologies used to move, control, measure and apply fluids, as well as equipment used in fire and safety applications.

IDEX operates through businesses serving fluid and metering technologies, health and science technologies, and fire and safety markets. Its products include pumps, valves, flow meters, compressors, dispensing equipment, precision fluidics components and systems, fire pumps, rescue tools and other specialized equipment.

The company serves a broad range of industries, including healthcare, life sciences, water and wastewater, chemical processing, energy, food and beverage, agriculture, industrial manufacturing and municipal fire protection.