IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Short Interest Down 7.1% in March

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) was the target of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 748,600 shares, a drop of 7.1% from the March 15th total of 805,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 377,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $255.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $215.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDEX

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of IDEX during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. grew its stake in IDEX by 525.4% in the 1st quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 8,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,147,000 after buying an additional 7,393 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in IDEX in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in IDEX in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in IDEX by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,293 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of IEX stock opened at $230.39 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $236.13 and a 200-day moving average of $215.58. The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. IDEX has a 12-month low of $183.76 and a 12-month high of $246.36. The firm has a market cap of $17.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.05. IDEX had a net margin of 18.21% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The company had revenue of $788.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.01 EPS. IDEX’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that IDEX will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current 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.