Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $10.93 Million Position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its holdings in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 7.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 69,621 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,652 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.20% of WEX worth $10,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in WEX by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,427 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,384,000 after buying an additional 2,667 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in WEX by 5.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in WEX by 390.0% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 735 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in WEX in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,570,000. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in WEX in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $702,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,177 shares of the company's stock, valued at $416,441.16. This represents a 30.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Melissa D. Smith acquired 3,721 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The shares were purchased 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 now directly owns 101,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,616,061.74. This 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

WEX Stock Up 1.1%

WEX stock opened at $140.79 on Monday. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $110.45 and a twelve month high of $217.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.06. The stock's 50 day moving average is $132.84 and its 200-day moving average is $152.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 18.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.22.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 37.90% and a net margin of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $636.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $631.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect 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.

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