1620 Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New $80,000 Investment in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $80,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WEX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in WEX in the 4th quarter valued at about $89,745,000. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of WEX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,750,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of WEX by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,122,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $607,482,000 after buying an additional 179,813 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in WEX by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,199,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $816,919,000 after buying an additional 67,893 shares during the period. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its stake in WEX by 1,610.6% in the 1st quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 58,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,839,000 after buying an additional 54,858 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WEX shares. William Blair upgraded WEX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on WEX from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on WEX from $275.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WEX news, insider Ann Elena Drew sold 1,182 shares of WEX stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $204,166.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $964,524.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Melanie J. Tinto sold 1,564 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.04, for a total transaction of $289,402.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,565,623.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ann Elena Drew sold 1,182 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $204,166.86. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,584 shares in the company, valued at $964,524.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,826 shares of company stock worth $693,369 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WEX Stock Performance

WEX stock opened at $181.99 on Friday. WEX Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.95 and a fifty-two week high of $244.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $177.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $202.44.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.09. WEX had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 9.32%. The business had revenue of $673.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $677.44 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 13.73 earnings per share 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.