Lyrical Asset Management LP Grows Position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Lyrical Asset Management LP grew its stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 823,434 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,190 shares during the quarter. WEX comprises approximately 2.2% of Lyrical Asset Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Lyrical Asset Management LP owned approximately 2.07% of WEX worth $144,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in WEX by 72.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of WEX by 172.4% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,623 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after buying an additional 4,192 shares during the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEX during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,285,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in WEX during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,446,000. Finally, 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 worth $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 price target on WEX in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup downgraded WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Mizuho lowered their price target on WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $187.80.

WEX Trading Down 11.0 %

Shares of WEX stock opened at $126.88 on Friday. WEX Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $124.30 and a fifty-two week high of $241.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $158.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.57. The stock has a market cap of $4.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. On average, analysts anticipate 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.