Gabelli Funds LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in IDEX Corporation $IEX

Key Points

• Gabelli Funds LLC reduced its stake in IDEX by 2.8% in the first quarter, selling 5,000 shares and leaving it with 176,100 shares worth about $33.4 million.
• CEO Eric D. Ashleman sold shares in May, disposing of 15,385 shares for about $3.31 million and cutting his direct ownership by 18.75%.
• Analysts remain mostly positive on IDEX, with six Buy ratings and three Hold ratings; the consensus target price is $244, above the stock’s recent trading price of $223.13.

Gabelli Funds LLC trimmed its position in shares of IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,100 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,000 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC owned about 0.24% of IDEX worth $33,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of IEX. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of IDEX by 3.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,646 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in IDEX by 41.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $183,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in IDEX during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in IDEX by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 18,658 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,276,000 after purchasing an additional 3,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in IDEX by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,513 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,373,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the period. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at IDEX

In related news, CEO Eric D. Ashleman sold 15,385 shares of IDEX stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.22, for a total transaction of $3,311,159.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 66,658 shares in the company, valued at $14,346,134.76. The trade was a 18.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on IEX. Weiss Ratings upgraded IDEX from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on IDEX in a report on Friday, March 27th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $214.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on IDEX from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $252.00 to $261.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $244.00.

IDEX Price Performance

IEX stock opened at $223.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 3.39 and a quick ratio of 2.40. IDEX Corporation has a 1 year low of $157.25 and a 1 year high of $231.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $219.14 and a 200 day moving average of $206.95. The company has a market cap of $16.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.01, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.98.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.22. IDEX had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 14.38%.The business had revenue of $886.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $845.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.75 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. IDEX has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.070-2.120 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 8.350-8.550 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that IDEX Corporation will post 8.48 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th were paid a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 6th. IDEX's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.20%.

IDEX Company Profile

IDEX Corporation is a diversified industrial manufacturer specializing in the design, production and distribution of highly engineered fluidics systems, measurement technologies and safety solutions. The company's core offerings include positive-displacement pumps, flow meters, valves, sampling systems and analytical instruments that serve a wide range of end markets such as water treatment, chemical processing, energy, food and beverage, and life sciences. Through its focus on precision engineering and proprietary material science, IDEX delivers products designed for reliability in demanding applications.

Operations at IDEX are organized into three principal segments.

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