Barclays PLC Buys 12,526 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 58.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,061 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 12,526 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned 0.09% of WEX worth $5,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in WEX by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,283,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of WEX by 1,635.8% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,783 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,540,000 after buying an additional 8,277 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted 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 worth $56,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in WEX by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,008 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,053,000 after buying an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in WEX by 108.4% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 248 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company's stock.

WEX Price Performance

NYSE WEX traded up $1.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $131.74. 447,635 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 549,729. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.10. WEX Inc. has a 1 year low of $110.45 and a 1 year high of $220.32. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.33.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. On average, analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WEX shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of WEX in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEX has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $185.80.

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.