Stifel Nicolaus Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for IDEX (NYSE:IEX) Stock

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) had its target price upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $244.00 to $256.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Argus cut shares of IDEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of IDEX from $251.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.14.

IDEX Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE IEX opened at $228.01 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $220.37 and a 200 day moving average of $208.70. IDEX has a 12-month low of $189.51 and a 12-month high of $246.36. The stock has a market cap of $17.27 billion, a PE ratio of 35.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.96.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that IDEX will post 7.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Institutional Trading of IDEX

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 73.8% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in IDEX during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in IDEX by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new stake in IDEX during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 38.4% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

About IDEX

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.