EP Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,356 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crestline Management LP purchased a new stake in WEX in the fourth quarter worth $1,596,000. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in WEX in the fourth quarter worth $399,000. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in WEX by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,271 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in WEX by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,825 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 2,610 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of WEX by 198.4% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 25,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,383,000 after acquiring an additional 16,622 shares during the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 target price on WEX in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America cut WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $182.40.

WEX Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:WEX opened at $138.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $137.70 and a 200 day moving average of $161.31. The company has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. WEX Inc. has a 12-month low of $110.45 and a 12-month high of $217.47.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $636.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $631.42 million. WEX had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

About WEX

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.