Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys New Stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $329,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of WEX by 124.2% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 40,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,572,000 after purchasing an additional 22,638 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its position in WEX by 5.6% in the second quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 914,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $173,561,000 after buying an additional 48,182 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in WEX in the second quarter worth $6,253,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in WEX by 256.6% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 11,765 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,084,000 after buying an additional 8,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in WEX in the second quarter worth $1,227,000. 97.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEX Stock Performance

Shares of WEX stock opened at $185.38 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $196.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $187.80. WEX Inc. has a 12 month low of $165.51 and a 12 month high of $244.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.57.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.82 by $0.53. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $665.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at WEX

In related news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $101,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 7,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,000. The trade was a 6.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WEX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research downgraded WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, WEX currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.91.

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.