Inspire Investing LLC Buys 283 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,501 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $438,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WEX. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 672.7% during 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. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,555,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $326,237,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 328.6% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 127,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after purchasing an additional 97,807 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 82.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 175,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,847,000 after purchasing an additional 79,252 shares during the period. Finally, HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 61.3% during the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 149,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,321,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total transaction of $33,152.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,334.08. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WEX Price Performance

NYSE:WEX opened at $181.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.21 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.58. WEX Inc. has a 12 month low of $165.51 and a 12 month high of $244.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $179.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $186.21.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.53. WEX had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 31.35%. The business had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.44 earnings per share. WEX’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WEX. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup cut shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $217.73.

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.