Bamco Inc. NY Trims Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Bamco Inc. NY cut its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 4.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 243,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,076 shares during the quarter. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in WEX were worth $51,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its stake in WEX by 672.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 154,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,305,000 after acquiring an additional 134,099 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of WEX by 34.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 495,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,772,000 after purchasing an additional 126,663 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of WEX by 8.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,555,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $326,237,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 97,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in WEX during the second quarter worth about $13,950,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, WEX presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.91.

WEX Stock Performance

Shares of WEX stock opened at $189.31 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $194.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.10. 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 market capitalization of $7.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.57. WEX Inc. has a 12 month low of $165.51 and a 12 month high of $244.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.44 earnings per share. WEX’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at WEX

In other news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value 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 6.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.