IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 806,000 shares, a growth of 7.7% from the March 31st total of 748,600 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 387,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IEX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of IDEX from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note 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 note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of IDEX from $260.00 to $256.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, IDEX currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $250.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDEX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Albert D Mason Inc. lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 1.0% during the first quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 4,509 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 1.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,289 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $892,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 2.1% during the third quarter. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc now owns 2,766 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $575,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 5.0% during the third quarter. Jacobson & Schmitt Advisors LLC now owns 1,242 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of IDEX by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,306 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,247,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IEX traded up $0.92 on Wednesday, hitting $221.38. 279,942 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 380,105. The company's 50 day moving average price is $236.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $217.07. IDEX has a one year low of $183.76 and a one year high of $246.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a current ratio of 3.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.12. IDEX had a net margin of 17.89% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The business had revenue of $801.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that IDEX will post 8.33 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.

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