Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 3,834 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 265.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,280 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,834 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in WEX were worth $926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in WEX during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $212,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of WEX by 0.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,425 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,847,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 1.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 50,370 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,922,000 after buying an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 acquiring an additional 126,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in WEX by 8.6% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,292 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on WEX. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on WEX from $247.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research downgraded WEX from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of WEX from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $219.55.

WEX Trading Up 2.4 %

WEX stock traded up $4.36 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $184.10. 411,170 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 401,337. WEX Inc. has a one year low of $165.51 and a one year high of $244.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.36, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $178.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.97.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.03 million. WEX had a net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 31.35%. The firm's revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.44 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at WEX

In other 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,436,334.08. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.