Jennison Associates LLC Trims Stock Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 43.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 178,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 137,125 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $37,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 134,099 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in WEX by 34.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 495,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,772,000 after acquiring an additional 126,663 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in 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 worth $26,755,000 after acquiring an additional 97,807 shares during the last quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in WEX during the second quarter valued at approximately $13,950,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. lifted its stake in shares of WEX by 61.3% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 149,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,321,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WEX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.91.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of WEX stock opened at $181.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $165.51 and a twelve month high of $244.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.33.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $688.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEX

In other WEX news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 6.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.