Fmr LLC Purchases 125,262 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Fmr LLC raised its holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 8.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,555,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned 3.91% of WEX worth $326,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WEX. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in WEX by 68.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 12,438 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,601,000 after buying an additional 5,049 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of WEX by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 308,065 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $64,611,000 after purchasing an additional 16,739 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in WEX by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 30,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,468,000 after purchasing an additional 6,167 shares in the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in WEX in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $329,000. Finally, Factorial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in WEX in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,244,000. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WEX shares. Bank of America increased their price target on WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Six research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.91.

WEX Stock Performance

Shares of WEX opened at $188.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.42. WEX Inc. has a 12 month low of $165.51 and a 12 month high of $244.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.57.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.03 million. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.44 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at WEX

In related news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $101,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,000. This represents a 6.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.