IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) Short Interest Up 9.4% in January

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,280,000 shares, a growth of 9.4% from the January 15th total of 1,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 557,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX traded down $2.74 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $195.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 388,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 538,420. The business's 50-day moving average price is $210.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.50. IDEX has a 12 month low of $189.51 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The stock has a market cap of $14.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $2.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.01. IDEX had a net margin of 15.45% and a return on equity of 16.08%. Sell-side analysts expect that IDEX will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IEX. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. bought a new position in IDEX during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in IDEX by 73.8% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in IDEX during the third quarter valued at $39,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of IDEX in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 407 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.96% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on IEX. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of IDEX from $269.00 to $267.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of IDEX from $245.00 to $241.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of IDEX from $225.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of IDEX from $244.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $241.71.

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.