Pacer Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in IDEX Corporation by 34.8% in the first quarter, owning 4,269 shares worth approximately $773,000 after selling 2,274 shares.
• IDEX Corporation's stock saw a decline of 2.7%, trading at $159.03, with a market capitalization of $11.97 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.71 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.8% and a payout ratio of 45.88%.

Pacer Advisors Inc. cut its stake in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX - Free Report) by 34.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,269 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 2,274 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in IDEX were worth $773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of IEX. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in IDEX by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 9,655 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 19,702 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,363 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in IDEX by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 3,562 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $746,000 after buying an additional 232 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in IDEX in the fourth quarter valued at about $448,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in IDEX by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $655,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company's stock.

IDEX Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of IEX traded down $4.48 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $159.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,319,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 772,596. IDEX Corporation has a 1 year low of $153.36 and a 1 year high of $238.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 3.05. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $179.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.00.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.07. IDEX had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 15.16%. The company had revenue of $865.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $858.59 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.06 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that IDEX Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 11th. IDEX's payout ratio is 45.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Akhil Mahendra sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.89, for a total value of $45,222.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 5,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $910,781.15. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on IEX shares. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of IDEX from $224.00 to $212.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho set a $185.00 target price on IDEX in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on IDEX from $207.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on IDEX from $238.00 to $204.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $215.00 target price on IDEX in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.63.

IDEX Profile

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.