Stephens Inc. AR Sells 240 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,018 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 240 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in WEX were worth $2,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $32,305,000 after purchasing an additional 134,099 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of WEX by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,555,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $326,237,000 after buying an additional 125,262 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $26,755,000 after buying an additional 97,807 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of WEX by 82.2% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 175,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,847,000 after acquiring an additional 79,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. lifted its stake in shares of WEX by 61.3% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 149,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,321,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total value of $33,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,334.08. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wolfe Research cut shares of WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $199.73.

WEX Stock Performance

Shares of WEX stock opened at $155.25 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.51. WEX Inc. has a one year low of $146.03 and a one year high of $244.04. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.58.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. On average, research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 14.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.