IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $241.00.

IEX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped 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. Citigroup dropped their target price on IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDEX

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IEX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in IDEX by 108.4% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX in the 4th quarter valued at $217,658,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in IDEX by 9,424.6% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $262,479,000 after purchasing an additional 273,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in IDEX by 133.2% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 406,637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $85,105,000 after buying an additional 232,255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IEX opened at $193.83 on Thursday. IDEX has a one year low of $189.51 and a one year high of $246.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $214.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $211.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The stock has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 16.08%. On average, equities research analysts expect that IDEX will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current year.

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.