Atria Investments Inc Increases Stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Atria Investments Inc increased its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 289.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,528 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,850 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in WEX were worth $1,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEX. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEX by 672.7% in the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 154,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,305,000 after buying an additional 134,099 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in WEX by 34.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 495,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $87,772,000 after acquiring an additional 126,663 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in WEX by 328.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 127,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after purchasing an additional 97,807 shares during the period. Distillate Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEX during the second quarter worth $13,950,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. lifted its position in shares of WEX by 61.3% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 149,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,321,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WEX Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE WEX opened at $179.08 on Friday. WEX Inc. has a 52 week low of $165.51 and a 52 week high of $244.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $197.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.57.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,000. The trade was a 6.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,651 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.67, for a total value of $299,937.17. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,409,214.19. This represents a 17.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WEX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. William Blair raised WEX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.91.

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.