WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) Shares Bought by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in WEX were worth $238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in WEX by 2,524.0% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 163,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,876,000 after acquiring an additional 157,600 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in WEX during the 3rd quarter valued at $22,115,000. HM Payson & Co. lifted its stake in shares of WEX by 313.3% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 132,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $24,843,000 after buying an additional 100,120 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in WEX by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,131,124 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $777,023,000 after buying an additional 83,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in WEX by 110.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 143,702 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,029,000 after acquiring an additional 75,476 shares during the period. 97.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEX Stock Up 1.1 %

WEX stock opened at $211.66 on Wednesday. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.95 and a twelve month high of $244.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The business has a 50 day moving average of $229.31 and a 200 day moving average of $205.01. The firm has a market cap of $8.87 billion, a PE ratio of 34.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.60.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.29 by ($0.15). WEX had a net margin of 10.21% and a return on equity of 30.92%. The business had revenue of $663.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $656.75 million. On average, research analysts forecast that WEX Inc. will post 13.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of WEX from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. TheStreet raised shares of WEX from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of WEX from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of WEX from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on WEX from $272.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.00.

Insider Activity at WEX

In other WEX news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.24, for a total value of $72,071.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,289,350.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other WEX news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.24, for a total transaction of $72,071.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,528 shares in the company, valued at $1,289,350.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Sara Trickett sold 887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.61, for a total transaction of $199,229.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,157 shares of company stock valued at $7,090,562 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.