HM Payson & Co. Lowers Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

HM Payson & Co. reduced its holdings in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 40.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,552 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 25,277 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co. owned 0.11% of WEX worth $5,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in WEX by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 4,864 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC lifted its holdings in WEX by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 1,886 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of WEX by 72.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on WEX from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer started coverage on WEX in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on WEX from $172.00 to $138.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $176.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEX

In other news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Melissa D. Smith purchased 3,721 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $134.57 per share, with a total value of $500,734.97. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 101,182 shares in the company, valued at $13,616,061.74. This represents a 3.82% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

WEX Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of WEX stock traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $151.23. 210,668 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 581,355. WEX Inc. has a 1 year low of $110.45 and a 1 year high of $217.47. The company's 50 day moving average is $137.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $150.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.06. The firm has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.23.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $636.60 million for 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 firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS 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.