Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 18,906 WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 18,906 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,315,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in WEX by 120.4% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 8,688 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after purchasing an additional 4,746 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in WEX by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 4,864 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in WEX by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 2,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in WEX by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 315,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,275,000 after purchasing an additional 23,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel increased its stake in WEX by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 7,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America downgraded WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on WEX from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $195.73.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WEX opened at $156.41 on Friday. 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 fifty day moving average price of $165.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.73. WEX Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.03 and a 1-year high of $244.04. The company has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.61.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

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.