Bessemer Group Inc. Boosts Stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 0.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 611,197 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. owned approximately 1.42% of WEX worth $111,281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in WEX in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEX during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in WEX by 41.1% during the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new stake in WEX in the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in WEX by 55.6% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at WEX

In other news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 399 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.87, for a total value of $69,374.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $158,395.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 399 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.87, for a total value of $69,374.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $158,395.57. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.22, for a total transaction of $196,220.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,583,495.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on WEX. Wolfe Research upgraded WEX from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of WEX from $205.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of WEX from $218.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $219.54.

WEX Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WEX opened at $175.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. WEX Inc. has a 12-month low of $152.32 and a 12-month high of $204.05.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The business services provider reported $3.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $651.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.45 million. WEX had a net margin of 10.80% and a return on equity of 32.16%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 12.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEX Company Profile

WEX Inc operates a commerce platform in the United States and internationally. The Fleet Solutions segment offers fleet vehicle payment solutions, transaction processing, and information management services. It also provides account 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 tools to fleets to manage expenses and capital requirements.