Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 67,951 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lessened its stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 266,344 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 67,951 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.67% of WEX worth $46,695,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,052,087 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in WEX by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 872,734 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $153,008,000 after purchasing an additional 8,780 shares during the period. Lyrical Asset Management LP boosted its stake in shares of WEX by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 823,434 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $144,364,000 after buying an additional 3,190 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of WEX by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 725,842 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $127,255,000 after purchasing an additional 5,377 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in WEX by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 602,693 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $105,653,000 after buying an additional 18,331 shares in the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEX has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on WEX from $172.00 to $138.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 target price on WEX in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $182.40.

WEX Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of WEX stock traded up $3.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $138.21. 634,659 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 560,704. The company has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26. WEX Inc. has a 1-year low of $110.45 and a 1-year high of $217.47. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $137.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $161.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. WEX's revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.46 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS 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.