IDEX (NYSE:IEX) Rating Lowered to Hold at Argus

Argus downgraded shares of IDEX (NYSE:IEX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of IDEX from $250.00 to $236.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on IDEX from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on IDEX from $265.00 to $236.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of IDEX from $256.00 to $241.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of IDEX from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, IDEX has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $235.33.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX stock opened at $196.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a current ratio of 3.41. IDEX has a 1 year low of $183.76 and a 1 year high of $246.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $200.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $218.34.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $807.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $828.15 million. IDEX had a net margin of 18.19% and a return on equity of 16.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.18 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that IDEX will post 7.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 12th were paid a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 12th. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. IDEX’s payout ratio is 36.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of IEX. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in IDEX in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in IDEX during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in IDEX during the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in IDEX by 38.4% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by 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.