Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 11.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,745 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 10,587 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.24% of WEX worth $12,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 27,871.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 69,089 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,848,000 after acquiring an additional 68,842 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,283,000 after acquiring an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,008 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 108.4% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 248 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of WEX in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,807,000. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEX has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of WEX from $172.00 to $138.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of WEX from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, WEX presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $176.90.

WEX Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:WEX traded down $3.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $150.75. 332,896 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 582,653. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.23. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $139.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.05. WEX Inc. has a 12-month low of $110.45 and a 12-month high of $217.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.06, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $631.42 million. WEX had a net margin of 12.07% and a return on equity of 37.90%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at WEX

In related news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,400 shares of WEX stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 trade represents a 30.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Melissa D. Smith acquired 3,721 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were acquired 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 owned 101,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,616,061.74. This trade represents a 3.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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.