Do Hedge Funds Love IDEX Corporation (IEX)?

Seeing as IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) has experienced a decline in interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there exists a select few hedgies who sold off their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Intriguingly, Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management dropped the largest stake of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, totaling an estimated $27.3 million in stock, and Joel Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management was right behind this move, as the fund dropped about $2.3 million worth. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:GOLD), Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (USA) (NYSE:AEM), Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS), and Open Text Corporation (USA) (NASDAQ:OTEX). This group of stocks’ market valuations match IEX’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 21 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $385 million, compared to $196 million in IEX’s case. Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (USA) (NYSE:AEM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Randgold Resources Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:GOLD) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks IDEX Corporation (NYSE:IEX) is even less popular than GOLD. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies mentioned in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.