IDEX (NYSE:IEX) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $218.65, but opened at $208.16. IDEX shares last traded at $201.07, with a volume of 20,507 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on IEX. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of IDEX from $248.00 to $258.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.86.

IDEX Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $218.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.10. The company has a market cap of $15.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.90, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 15.92%. On average, equities analysts forecast that IDEX Co. will post 7.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were given a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. IDEX’s payout ratio is 42.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDEX

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in IDEX by 108.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,830,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $607,234,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,456 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of IDEX by 9,424.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $211,473,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,439 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 28.8% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,223,676 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $262,479,000 after acquiring an additional 273,460 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in IDEX by 133.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 406,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $85,105,000 after acquiring an additional 232,255 shares during the period. Finally, DF Dent & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in IDEX during the third quarter worth about $31,747,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

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.