University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. Makes New $831,000 Investment in WEX Inc. $WEX

University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $831,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WEX. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEX in the 2nd quarter worth $559,710,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of WEX by 1.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,916,073 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $599,313,000 after acquiring an additional 44,031 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WEX during the second quarter worth about $446,833,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of WEX by 13.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 823,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $126,056,000 after acquiring an additional 98,524 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in WEX by 58.5% during the first quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 669,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $102,435,000 after purchasing an additional 246,923 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE WEX opened at $182.58 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.93. WEX Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.29 and a 52 week high of $203.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $184.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $165.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $6.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.68 by $0.45. WEX had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 45.74%. The company had revenue of $780.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $749.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 18.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WEX shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of WEX from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on WEX from $178.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on WEX from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded WEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded WEX from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEX presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.10.

Insider Activity at WEX

In related news, COO Joel Alan Dearborn, Jr. sold 3,343 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $668,600.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 17,021 shares in the company, valued at $3,404,200. This represents a 16.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Melissa D. Smith sold 28,109 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.09, for a total value of $5,343,239.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 126,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,070,146.25. The trade was a 18.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 37,325 shares of company stock valued at $7,067,912 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

WEX Profile

WEX Inc is a financial technology company that provides payment processing and business management solutions. Founded in 1983 as Wright Express, the company adopted the WEX name in 2012 and is headquartered in Portland, Maine.

WEX’s fleet business offers payment cards and related services for commercial and government fleets, including tools to manage fuel purchases, vehicle expenses and fleet operations. Its travel and corporate payments business provides solutions such as virtual cards and payment services for travel companies and other businesses.

WEX also provides employee benefits administration, including platforms and services for health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, commuter benefits and COBRA administration.