IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• IDEX Corporation has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with five out of seven firms recommending a buy.
• The company's stock price target varies among analysts, with Citigroup setting a target at $216.00 while Stifel Nicolaus adjusted theirs down to $191.00.
• IDEX has initiated a $1.00 billion share buyback program, indicating confidence in its stock valuation, and has also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share.

Shares of IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $199.5714.

A number of research firms have commented on IEX. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of IDEX from $208.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of IDEX from $204.00 to $191.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer set a $210.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of IDEX from $207.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $180.00 target price on shares of IDEX and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th.

IDEX Price Performance

NYSE IEX opened at $166.83 on Tuesday. IDEX has a fifty-two week low of $153.36 and a fifty-two week high of $238.22. The stock's 50-day moving average is $163.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 3.05 and a quick ratio of 2.13. The firm has a market cap of $12.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.04.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.16% and a net margin of 14.05%.The company had revenue of $712.00 million for the quarter. On average, analysts anticipate that IDEX will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the industrial products company to buy up to 8.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. IDEX's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in IEX. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of IDEX by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,050,601 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $914,007,000 after acquiring an additional 831,005 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in IDEX by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,099,752 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $544,223,000 after purchasing an additional 16,913 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in IDEX by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,006,724 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $363,157,000 after purchasing an additional 207,172 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in IDEX by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,000,861 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $349,869,000 after purchasing an additional 29,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in IDEX by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,559,341 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $273,773,000 after purchasing an additional 13,878 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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