Cerity Partners LLC Has $1.57 Million Stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 88.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,695 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $1,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WEX. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of WEX by 72.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of WEX by 2.9% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $739,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc boosted its position in shares of WEX by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc now owns 19,657 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,446,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in WEX in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on WEX in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on WEX in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on WEX from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEX presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $174.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEX

In other news, CEO Melissa D. Smith purchased 3,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $134.57 per share, for a total transaction of $500,734.97. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 101,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,616,061.74. The trade was a 3.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.08, for a total transaction of $183,512.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $416,441.16. This represents a 30.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WEX Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of WEX opened at $154.43 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.06. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $110.45 and a twelve month high of $217.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.23.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $636.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $631.42 million. WEX had a return on equity of 37.90% and a net margin of 12.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current 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.