IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 984,800 shares, a decline of 23.1% from the January 31st total of 1,280,000 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 523,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on IEX shares. Citigroup cut their price target on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, IDEX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IEX. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 119.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,864 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,043,000 after buying an additional 2,646 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of IDEX by 0.3% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 35,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,581,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in IDEX by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,554 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,049,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in IDEX by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northstar Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in IDEX by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. now owns 39,698 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,515,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of IEX opened at $188.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.37, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.97. IDEX has a 12 month low of $188.11 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $207.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 16.08%. Analysts predict that IDEX will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.