SageView Advisory Group LLC Trims Stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

SageView Advisory Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 89.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,619 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,984 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $340,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of WEX by 672.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 154,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,305,000 after acquiring an additional 134,099 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of WEX by 34.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 495,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,772,000 after purchasing an additional 126,663 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEX by 8.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,555,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $326,237,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of WEX by 328.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 127,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after purchasing an additional 97,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in WEX by 82.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 175,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,847,000 after buying an additional 79,252 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at WEX

In related news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,334.08. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $101,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,120 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,000. This represents a 6.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

WEX Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WEX stock opened at $183.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $192.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.57. WEX Inc. has a 12-month low of $165.51 and a 12-month high of $244.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.53. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEX has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research cut WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.91.

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.