Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Boosts Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 8.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in WEX were worth $229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in WEX by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,199,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $816,919,000 after purchasing an additional 67,893 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in WEX by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,122,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $607,482,000 after purchasing an additional 179,813 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its stake in WEX by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 914,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $173,561,000 after purchasing an additional 48,182 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in WEX by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 735,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $174,660,000 after purchasing an additional 4,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of WEX by 34.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 495,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,772,000 after acquiring an additional 126,663 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Stock Performance

WEX opened at $209.58 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $8.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.08, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.54. WEX Inc. has a 52-week low of $161.95 and a 52-week high of $244.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $197.82.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $3.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $673.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $677.44 million. WEX had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 31.05%. Equities analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 13.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at WEX

In other news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value 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. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value 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. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ann Elena Drew sold 1,182 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $204,166.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,584 shares in the company, valued at $964,524.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,985 shares of company stock valued at $1,094,907. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEX has been the topic of a number of research reports. William Blair upgraded shares of WEX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $275.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.58.

WEX 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.