First Trust Advisors LP Lowers Position in IDEX Corporation $IEX

First Trust Advisors LP cut its holdings in shares of IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) by 23.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 672,829 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 204,149 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in IDEX were worth $127,535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of IDEX by 41.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $183,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of IDEX during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $219,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in IDEX by 23.9% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 18,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,276,000 after acquiring an additional 3,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in IDEX by 4.0% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,513 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at IDEX

In related news, CEO Eric D. Ashleman sold 15,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.22, for a total value of $3,311,159.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 66,658 shares in the company, valued at $14,346,134.76. This trade represents a 18.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on IEX. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of IDEX from $250.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird set a $257.00 price objective on IDEX in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their price objective on IDEX from $243.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded IDEX from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of IDEX in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, IDEX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.00.

IDEX Stock Down 0.5%

IEX stock opened at $222.07 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.44 billion, a PE ratio of 32.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.98. IDEX Corporation has a 52 week low of $157.25 and a 52 week high of $231.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 3.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $218.84 and a 200 day moving average of $206.84.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $886.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $845.58 million. IDEX had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 15.29%. IDEX’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.75 EPS. IDEX has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.070-2.120 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 8.350-8.550 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that IDEX Corporation will post 8.48 earnings per share for the current year.

IDEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 24th. Investors of record on Monday, July 6th will be given a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 6th. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.20%.

About IDEX

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.