Blueshift Asset Management LLC Invests $255,000 in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commerce Bank grew its stake 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 worth $760,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in WEX by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of WEX by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 4,864 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $853,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEX by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 11,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,959,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays cut their price target on WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $195.73.

WEX Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE WEX opened at $157.11 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $164.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.49. WEX Inc. has a one year low of $146.03 and a one year high of $244.04. The firm has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.