Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 30,373 Shares of IES Holdings, Inc. $IESC

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. sold 30,373 shares of IES Holdings, reducing its stake by 4% to approximately 722,958 shares, valued at $119 million.
• CEO Jeffrey L. Et Al Gendell sold 27,144 shares for about $7.49 million, decreasing his ownership by 0.25%, but he still holds over $3 billion in shares.
• Wall Street Zen upgraded IES from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating, reflecting positive expectations for the company's future performance.

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in IES Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:IESC - Free Report) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 722,958 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 30,373 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 3.64% of IES worth $119,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of IES during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of IES by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 507 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of IES by 162.5% during the first quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 882 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $146,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of IES during the fourth quarter valued at about $237,000. Finally, City State Bank increased its position in shares of IES by 127.6% during the first quarter. City State Bank now owns 1,195 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Jeffrey L. Et Al Gendell sold 1,710 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.45, for a total transaction of $607,819.50. Following the sale, the chairman owned 10,913,844 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,879,325,849.80. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 41,340 shares of company stock worth $11,522,915 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 56.76% of the company's stock.

IES Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:IESC traded down $2.55 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $355.84. 135,630 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 130,611. IES Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $140.89 and a one year high of $370.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $321.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.77. The company has a market cap of $7.06 billion, a PE ratio of 27.18 and a beta of 1.67.

IES (NASDAQ:IESC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The technology company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.40. IES had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 37.23%. The business had revenue of $890.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.00 million.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of IES from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th.

IES Profile

IES Holdings, Inc engages in the design and installation of integrated electrical and technology systems, and provides infrastructure products and services in the United States. The Communications segment designs, installs, and maintains network infrastructure within data centers for co-location and managed hosting customers; corporate, educational, financial, hospitality, and healthcare buildings; e-commerce distribution centers; and high-tech manufacturing facilities.