HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 2,851 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 79.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,851 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $1,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in WEX by 39.6% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 40,862 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,570,000 after acquiring an additional 11,583 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in WEX in the third quarter valued at $727,000. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in WEX by 474.4% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 14,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,955,000 after buying an additional 11,636 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in WEX by 191.9% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 2,291 shares during the period. Finally, Isthmus Partners LLC purchased a new position in WEX during the third quarter valued at $373,000. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WEX opened at $177.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. WEX Inc. has a 1 year low of $165.51 and a 1 year high of $244.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.48. The firm has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.57.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $665.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company earned $3.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total value of $33,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,334.08. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on WEX. Bank of America raised their price objective on WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.91.

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.