Sanctuary Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 56.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,667 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $1,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of WEX by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,163,678 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $873,251,000 after buying an additional 25,365 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in WEX by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,555,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $326,237,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in WEX by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,240,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $260,265,000 after purchasing an additional 3,882 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in WEX by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 720,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $151,103,000 after purchasing an additional 34,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in 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 worth $64,611,000 after purchasing an additional 16,739 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of WEX stock opened at $157.98 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.93. WEX Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.03 and a 52 week high of $244.04. The company has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. As a group, analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WEX. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho decreased their target price on WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on WEX from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEX has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $199.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.