StockNews.com Upgrades IDEX (NYSE:IEX) to Buy

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on IEX. Stifel Nicolaus raised IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $265.00 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup upped their price target on IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of IDEX in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, IDEX presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.00.

IDEX Stock Performance

Shares of IEX stock opened at $226.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $236.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $215.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. IDEX has a 52-week low of $183.76 and a 52-week high of $246.36.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $788.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $767.96 million. IDEX had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 18.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that IDEX will post 8.35 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IDEX

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. increased its stake in IDEX by 525.4% during the 1st quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 8,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,147,000 after buying an additional 7,393 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 1st quarter worth approximately $201,000. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in IDEX during the 1st quarter worth approximately $212,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in IDEX by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,293 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.