Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $19.97 Million Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 31.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,210 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 44,366 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.24% of WEX worth $19,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its position in WEX by 672.7% during the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 154,033 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,305,000 after buying an additional 134,099 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of WEX by 34.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 495,527 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $87,772,000 after buying an additional 126,663 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 328.6% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 127,570 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,755,000 after acquiring an additional 97,807 shares during the period. Distillate Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEX during the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,950,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. increased its stake in WEX by 61.3% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 149,341 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,321,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. 97.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

WEX Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE WEX traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $180.91. The stock had a trading volume of 446,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 360,179. The firm has a market cap of $7.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.57. WEX Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $165.51 and a fifty-two week high of $244.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $197.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.49.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $665.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $688.03 million. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.44 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 13.2 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wolfe Research lowered WEX from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.91.

Insider Activity at WEX

In related news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of WEX stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $101,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,424,000. The trade was a 6.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other WEX news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,651 shares of WEX stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.67, for a total value of $299,937.17. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,409,214.19. The trade was a 17.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $101,600.00. Following the completion of 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. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

WEX Company Profile

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.