Quantessence Capital LLC Invests $313,000 in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Quantessence Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $313,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WEX. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of WEX by 140.4% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,818 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in WEX by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $767,000 after buying an additional 1,454 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in WEX by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 22,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,960,000 after acquiring an additional 1,181 shares during the last quarter. Natixis purchased a new stake in shares of WEX in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,111,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of WEX by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 602,693 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $105,653,000 after acquiring an additional 18,331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 target price on shares of WEX in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup downgraded WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $187.80.

WEX Trading Up 3.0 %

NYSE WEX opened at $124.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of 16.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.33. WEX Inc. has a 1-year low of $110.45 and a 1-year high of $235.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $145.81 and a 200-day moving average of $169.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

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.