1620 Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

1620 Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 263 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in WEX were worth $39,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 5.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 4,262 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in WEX by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 495,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $87,772,000 after acquiring an additional 126,663 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in WEX by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 402,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $71,275,000 after acquiring an additional 11,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in WEX by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 378,969 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $67,131,000 after acquiring an additional 17,989 shares during the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WEX news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.67, for a total transaction of $299,937.17. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,409,214.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other WEX news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $101,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 7,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,424,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.67, for a total value of $299,937.17. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,409,214.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on WEX shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on WEX from $275.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Wolfe Research downgraded WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. William Blair upgraded WEX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WEX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.91.

WEX Stock Performance

WEX opened at $172.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.55. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.94. WEX Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.97 and a 1-year high of $244.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.03 million. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 13.2 EPS 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.