World Investment Advisors LLC Invests $2.51 Million in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 11,955 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,507,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in WEX by 112.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 4,760 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 2,519 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of WEX in the third quarter worth approximately $251,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEX by 11.6% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc grew its position in WEX by 878.0% during the third quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc now owns 19,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,094,000 after purchasing an additional 17,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bullseye Asset Management LLC increased its stake in WEX by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bullseye Asset Management LLC now owns 10,875 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,281,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at WEX

In related news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 7,582 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,334.08. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WEX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America lifted their price target on WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WEX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.91.

WEX Stock Down 1.1 %

WEX stock opened at $176.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $189.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.50. The firm has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.57. WEX Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $165.51 and a fifty-two week high of $244.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.53. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast 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.