Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 2,471 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 54.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,471 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in WEX were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WEX. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of WEX by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of WEX by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,238 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of WEX by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of WEX by 47.3% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Long Road Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in shares of WEX by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Long Road Investment Counsel LLC now owns 26,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,729,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of WEX stock opened at $179.08 on Friday. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $165.51 and a twelve month high of $244.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.53. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The business had revenue of $665.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.67, for a total transaction of $299,937.17. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,757 shares in the company, valued at $1,409,214.19. This represents a 17.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $101,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 7,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,000. This trade represents a 6.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wolfe Research downgraded WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, William Blair raised WEX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.91.

About WEX

WEX Inc operates a commerce platform in the United States and internationally. The Mobility segment offers fleet vehicle payment solutions, transaction processing, and information management services; and provides account activation and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; account management; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions; and ancillary services and offerings.