Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 67,893 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,199,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,893 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.06% of WEX worth $816,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WEX. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEX by 74.7% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEX in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WEX in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEX by 896.8% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEX in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WEX opened at $173.76 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $198.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $207.54. The firm has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.56. WEX Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.95 and a 52 week high of $244.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $652.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $653.52 million. WEX had a return on equity of 30.92% and a net margin of 10.21%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at WEX

In related news, SVP Sara Trickett sold 734 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.43, for a total value of $154,455.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other WEX news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.55, for a total value of $253,860.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $403,848.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Sara Trickett sold 734 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.43, for a total value of $154,455.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,831 shares of company stock worth $808,602 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on WEX shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of WEX from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of WEX from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of WEX from $272.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of WEX from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WEX currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $237.14.

WEX Company Profile

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.