Quantbot Technologies LP Buys Shares of 13,342 WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 13,342 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,339,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in WEX in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in WEX by 108.4% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 248 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in WEX by 552.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 261 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in WEX by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in WEX in the 3rd quarter valued at about $59,000. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEX Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WEX opened at $157.11 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. WEX Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.03 and a 52-week high of $244.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $164.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.38. The company has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.61.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 price objective on shares of WEX in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEX has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $195.73.

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.