WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) Position Trimmed by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC trimmed its stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 24.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,175,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 380,390 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $206,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WEX. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in WEX by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,283,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in WEX by 1,635.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,540,000 after buying an additional 8,277 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in WEX by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in WEX by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,008 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in WEX by 108.4% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 248 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WEX Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:WEX opened at $126.00 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.75. WEX Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $110.45 and a fifty-two week high of $241.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.33.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 price objective on WEX in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on WEX from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $187.80.

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.