Equities Analysts Decrease Earnings Estimates for IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX)

IDEX Co. (NYSE:IEX) – Research analysts at Oppenheimer cut their Q3 2019 earnings per share estimates for shares of IDEX in a research note issued on Sunday, July 28th. Oppenheimer analyst B. Blair now expects that the industrial products company will post earnings per share of $1.46 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $1.47. Oppenheimer currently has a “Hold” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer also issued estimates for IDEX’s Q4 2019 earnings at $1.44 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $5.85 EPS.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $642.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $655.87 million. IDEX had a net margin of 17.11% and a return on equity of 21.20%. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of First Merchants from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Co reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Kimberly Clark in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 150 ($1.96) price target on shares of Tharisa in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of IDEX in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.38.
IEX opened at $167.44 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.25. IDEX has a 52-week low of $117.72 and a 52-week high of $173.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $167.20.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 16th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.97%.

In related news, SVP Daniel J. Salliotte sold 7,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.06, for a total transaction of $1,090,552.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,545 shares in the company, valued at $6,818,057.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael J. Yates sold 15,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.97, for a total transaction of $2,382,490.66. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 38,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,057,472.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 103,423 shares of company stock worth $16,055,566. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in IDEX by 5.4% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,826,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $277,210,000 after purchasing an additional 93,320 shares during the last quarter. Cleararc Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX during the first quarter valued at about $295,000. OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new stake in shares of IDEX during the first quarter valued at about $285,000. Texas Permanent School Fund increased its position in shares of IDEX by 2.5% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 51,462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,809,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of IDEX by 129.0% during the first quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 119,424 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,121,000 after acquiring an additional 67,263 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.61% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Company Profile

IDEX Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an applied solutions company 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, flow meters, injectors, and other fluid-handling pump modules and systems, as well as offers flow monitoring and other services for the food, chemical, general industrial, water and wastewater, agricultural, and energy industries.