Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Stock Position in IDEX Corporation $IEX

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 483,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 12,768 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in IDEX were worth $86,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IEX. Primecap Management Co. CA raised its stake in IDEX by 250.7% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,730,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $281,669,000 after buying an additional 1,237,129 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox purchased a new stake in IDEX in the third quarter valued at about $56,045,000. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in IDEX by 446.8% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 329,337 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,603,000 after buying an additional 269,109 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in IDEX by 16.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,809,788 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $294,561,000 after buying an additional 250,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in IDEX by 18.7% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 1,517,903 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $248,751,000 after buying an additional 239,215 shares during the last quarter. 97.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on IEX shares. Robert W. Baird set a $257.00 price target on IDEX in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Seaport Research Partners reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of IDEX in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on IDEX from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on IDEX in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $214.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of IDEX in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Eric D. Ashleman sold 15,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $14,346,134.76. This trade represents a 18.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

IDEX Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:IEX opened at $211.15 on Friday. IDEX Corporation has a 52-week low of $157.25 and a 52-week high of $223.85. The stock has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.02. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $203.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $193.73.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $886.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $845.58 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. IDEX has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.070-2.120 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 8.350-8.550 EPS. Equities analysts predict that IDEX Corporation will post 8.49 EPS for the current year.

IDEX Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from IDEX’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 22nd. IDEX’s dividend payout ratio is 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.