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

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 892,200 shares, a growth of 27.6% from the May 15th total of 699,100 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 399,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

IDEX Trading Up 1.0 %

IEX traded up $2.06 on Monday, reaching $200.29. 311,372 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 406,417. IDEX has a one year low of $183.76 and a one year high of $246.36. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $219.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $221.54. The company has a market cap of $15.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.45, a current ratio of 3.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.12. IDEX had a net margin of 17.89% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $801.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that IDEX will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. This is a positive change from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. IDEX’s payout ratio is currently 36.32%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDEX

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IEX. Pathstone Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 75.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 2,484 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 14,959 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,099,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 244,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,884,000 after purchasing an additional 28,661 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 76.8% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 27,278 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,674,000 after purchasing an additional 11,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC raised its holdings in shares of IDEX by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 41,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,648,000 after purchasing an additional 6,169 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on IEX. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of IDEX in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.71.

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.