Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in WEX were worth $1,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WEX. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of WEX by 289.0% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 6,528 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,369,000 after buying an additional 4,850 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in WEX by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,218 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in WEX by 206.1% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in WEX by 290.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,995,000 after purchasing an additional 10,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in WEX by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,187 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on WEX from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 target price on WEX in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup lowered WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WEX presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $195.73.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of WEX stock opened at $154.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.61. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $166.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.60. WEX Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.03 and a 12 month high of $244.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. Sell-side analysts forecast that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal 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.