D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 1,684.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 201,922 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 190,605 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.51% of WEX worth $35,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in WEX by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,283 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in WEX by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in WEX by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 11,175 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,959,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC grew its position in WEX by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on WEX shares. Citigroup lowered shares of WEX from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of WEX from $172.00 to $138.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $182.40.

WEX Price Performance

WEX stock traded up $3.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $138.21. 634,659 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 560,704. WEX Inc. has a 52 week low of $110.45 and a 52 week high of $217.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.11. WEX had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. The business had revenue of $636.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $631.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect 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.