BNP Paribas Financial Markets Has $1.20 Million Position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 61.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,825 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,610 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in WEX were worth $1,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in WEX by 105.8% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,046,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $358,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052,087 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in WEX in the 4th quarter valued at $80,535,000. Ariel Investments LLC raised its holdings in WEX by 113.0% in the 4th quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 318,272 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,799,000 after acquiring an additional 168,832 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in WEX in the 4th quarter valued at $28,689,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in WEX by 5,562.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 151,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,117,000 after acquiring an additional 148,456 shares in the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WEX shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on WEX from $172.00 to $138.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 price objective on WEX in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on WEX in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WEX currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $182.40.

WEX Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of WEX stock opened at $137.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $110.45 and a twelve month high of $217.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $160.20.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $636.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $631.42 million. WEX had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. WEX’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEX Company 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.