Northern Trust Corp Grows Stock Holdings in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Free Report) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 358,371 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 51,617 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.90% of WEX worth $62,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of WEX by 105.8% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,046,614 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $358,812,000 after buying an additional 1,052,087 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in WEX by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 872,734 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $153,008,000 after buying an additional 8,780 shares during the last quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP boosted its stake in WEX by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 823,434 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $144,364,000 after acquiring an additional 3,190 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WEX by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 725,842 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $127,255,000 after purchasing an additional 5,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in WEX by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 602,693 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $105,653,000 after purchasing an additional 18,331 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WEX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of WEX in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their target price 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. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 price objective on shares of WEX in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $182.40.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEX traded up $7.37 during trading on Monday, reaching $134.28. The company had a trading volume of 52,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 558,570. WEX Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.45 and a 12 month high of $217.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $138.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $161.78.

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