IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $212.50.

A number of research analysts recently commented on IEX shares. Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 price objective on IDEX in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on IDEX in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on IDEX from $206.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on IDEX from $192.00 to $208.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their target price on IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of IDEX stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.89, for a total value of $45,222.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $910,781.15. This trade represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of IDEX

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of IDEX by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. purchased a new position in IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in IDEX by 63.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 224 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of IDEX during the 1st quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IDEX stock opened at $175.83 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 2.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $178.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $193.65. The company has a market cap of $13.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.06. IDEX has a one year low of $153.36 and a one year high of $238.22.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.11. IDEX had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 15.51%. The firm had revenue of $814.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. IDEX’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that IDEX will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This is a positive change from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.01%.

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.