Royce & Associates LP Has $578,000 Stock Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Royce & Associates LP lowered its holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 63.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,680 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,290 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP's holdings in WEX were worth $578,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WEX. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of WEX during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of WEX during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEX by 72.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEX by 161.5% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 272 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of WEX during the fourth quarter worth $74,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.47% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at WEX

In other news, CEO Melissa D. Smith bought 3,721 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $134.57 per share, with a total value of $500,734.97. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,400 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.08, for a total value of $183,512.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $416,441.16. This trade represents a 30.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on WEX shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of WEX from $142.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of WEX in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of WEX from $186.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of WEX from $138.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of WEX in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEX presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $180.25.

WEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEX traded down $2.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $171.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 464,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 472,069. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.23. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $146.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.94. WEX Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $110.45 and a fifty-two week high of $217.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.99, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last issued 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 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 41.87% and a net margin of 11.79%. The firm's revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share 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.