IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $198.8571.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on IEX shares. DA Davidson set a $180.00 price objective on IDEX and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of IDEX from $204.00 to $191.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of IDEX in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer set a $210.00 price target on shares of IDEX in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $200.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th.

IDEX Stock Performance

NYSE IEX opened at $164.33 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $165.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $172.23. The company has a market capitalization of $12.30 billion, a PE ratio of 26.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.04. IDEX has a 1 year low of $153.36 and a 1 year high of $237.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 2.13.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, December 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $712.00 million during the quarter. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 13.97%. As a group, analysts expect that IDEX will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 18th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to purchase up to 8.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDEX

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IEX. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in IDEX by 257.5% in the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 143 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of IDEX in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of IDEX by 61.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 198 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in IDEX during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

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.