Geode Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Geode Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 693,297 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,503 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 1.74% of WEX worth $145,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Commerce Bank grew its position in shares of WEX by 1.7% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 3,624 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of WEX by 0.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of WEX by 3.3% in the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,238 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of WEX by 40.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 301 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of WEX by 47.3% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 277 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total value of $33,152.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,436,334.08. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

WEX Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:WEX traded down $3.48 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $173.79. 549,468 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 360,548. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.57. WEX Inc. has a 52-week low of $165.51 and a 52-week high of $244.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.48.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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%. WEX's revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEX has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $200.00 target price (down previously from $207.00) on shares of WEX in a research report on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, WEX has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $228.64.

WEX 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.