Sanctuary Advisors LLC Grows Position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 112.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,760 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,519 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $998,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in WEX by 124.2% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 40,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,572,000 after buying an additional 22,638 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in WEX during the 2nd quarter worth $1,227,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in WEX by 300.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 68,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,375,000 after purchasing an additional 51,423 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in WEX in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,531,000. Finally, Maven Securities LTD acquired a new position in shares of WEX during the second quarter worth about $2,657,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEX

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total value of $33,152.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,334.08. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of WEX in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WEX has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.64.

WEX Stock Performance

WEX opened at $169.39 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $185.38 and its 200-day moving average is $186.05. The stock has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.57. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $165.51 and a twelve month high of $244.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced 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 company had revenue of $665.50 million during 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.44 EPS. On average, analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current year.

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.