In quantum mechanics, my understanding of operators related to observables are as follows: By a postulate of QM, every observable can be represented as an Hermitian operator. The eigenfunctions of these Hermitian operators form a complete basis for the Hilbert space and the eigenvalues represent the values which can be measured with probability given by the squared absolute value of the expansion coefficients of the state vector in that basis. So for example, consider the eigenvalue equation for the position operator: $$\hat{X}|x\rangle = x|x\rangle,$$ this implies that if the state was $|\psi \rangle = |x \rangle$, then we are guaranteed to get $x$ after measurement, and if the state is a superposition of states then the probability of measuring the particle at a position $x$ is given by the squared absolute value of the expansion coefficient, so $|\langle x| \psi \rangle|^2$ (I understand that it is actually more like $|\langle x| \psi \rangle|^2dx$ since it is a continuous spectrum).
I want to know, if we consider a state given by a wave function $\psi(x)$, then we have that the position operator is defined by $$\hat{X}\psi(x) = x \psi(x).$$ Given this we can find the eigenfunctions. We can also compute the expectation values. My question is, what is the interpretation of $\hat{X}\psi(x) = x \psi(x)$? As I understand it is incorrect to interpret the operator acting on the state as the act of measuring the position so that the operator changes the state from $\psi(x)$ to $x \psi(x)$. So what is the meaning or interpretation of this equation? Does it have any utility independent from the expectation value and commutation relations?
Thanks for any assistance.