River Road Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 5.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 720,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,264 shares during the quarter. WEX comprises 2.0% of River Road Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $151,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEX. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WEX in the third quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in WEX by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 24,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,216,000 after acquiring an additional 13,104 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of WEX by 328.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 97,807 shares during the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of WEX by 672.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 134,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WEX during the third quarter worth $2,329,000. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. William Blair upgraded WEX to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wolfe Research cut WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.91.

WEX Price Performance

WEX stock opened at $172.05 on Tuesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $198.63 and its 200-day moving average is $191.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.84 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.57. WEX Inc. has a 1 year low of $165.51 and a 1 year high of $244.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.53. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The business had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 13.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at WEX

In other WEX news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.67, for a total transaction of $299,937.17. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other WEX news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,651 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,409,214.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $101,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 7,120 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.