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

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,280,000 shares, a growth of 9.4% from the January 15th total of 1,170,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 557,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX stock opened at $195.21 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. IDEX has a 52-week low of $189.51 and a 52-week high of $246.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $212.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.57. The company has a market capitalization of $14.78 billion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a return on equity of 16.08% and a net margin of 15.45%. Analysts predict that IDEX will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in IDEX by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,306,008 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,947,654,000 after acquiring an additional 63,432 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in IDEX by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,219,596 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $883,119,000 after acquiring an additional 1,388,667 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in IDEX by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,666,777 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $767,421,000 after acquiring an additional 277,964 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,017,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $647,356,000 after buying an additional 15,077 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of IDEX by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,912,933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $399,350,000 after buying an additional 21,758 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IEX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $241.00.

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.