J2 Capital Management Inc Takes $296,000 Position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

J2 Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,688 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEX by 124.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 40,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,572,000 after purchasing an additional 22,638 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of WEX by 300.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 68,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,375,000 after acquiring an additional 51,423 shares in the last quarter. Maven Securities LTD acquired a new stake in shares of WEX during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,657,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its stake in WEX by 672.7% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in WEX in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,658,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of WEX in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup cut shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WEX presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.55.

Insider Transactions at WEX

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of WEX 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,334.08. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of WEX opened at $184.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $178.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $186.07. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $165.51 and a twelve month high of $244.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a PE ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.58.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.03 million. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.44 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share 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.