Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Acquires New Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $702,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in WEX by 206.1% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of WEX in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of WEX by 552.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 261 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of WEX by 47.3% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of WEX in the third quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America cut shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEX presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $199.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total value of $33,152.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,334.08. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

WEX Stock Performance

NYSE WEX opened at $148.60 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $171.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.05. WEX Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.03 and a 1 year high of $244.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.58.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

About WEX

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.