Venturi Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 390.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 735 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in WEX were worth $129,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its stake in WEX by 672.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 154,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,305,000 after buying an additional 134,099 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in WEX by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,555,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $326,237,000 after buying an additional 125,262 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in WEX by 328.6% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 127,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after buying an additional 97,807 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in WEX by 82.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 175,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,847,000 after buying an additional 79,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. boosted its stake in WEX by 61.3% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 149,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,321,000 after buying an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on WEX from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wolfe Research lowered WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $199.73.

WEX Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEX opened at $150.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.02. WEX Inc. has a one year low of $146.03 and a one year high of $244.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.13.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of WEX stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total value of $33,152.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,334.08. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.