IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $263.64.

IEX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of IDEX in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their price target on IDEX from $269.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird set a $268.00 price objective on IDEX in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on IDEX from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on IDEX from $267.00 to $273.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday.

IDEX Stock Performance

NYSE:IEX opened at $233.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. IDEX has a 12-month low of $160.60 and a 12-month high of $243.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $230.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.97.

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

IDEX Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at IDEX

In other news, CAO Lisa Anderson sold 385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.59, for a total transaction of $91,857.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,032,378.93. The trade was a 8.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDEX

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of IDEX in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,301,393,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new position in shares of IDEX during the second quarter valued at approximately $748,951,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 215.0% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 746,732 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of IDEX by 101.4% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 525,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in IDEX during the second quarter valued at approximately $102,523,000. 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.