Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Takes Position in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,546 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in WEX by 5,562.2% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 151,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,117,000 after acquiring an additional 148,456 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in WEX by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 358,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,830,000 after buying an additional 51,617 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL raised its holdings in WEX by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 54,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,500,000 after buying an additional 14,453 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in WEX by 1.0% in 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. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in WEX in the fourth quarter worth about $4,776,000. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 target price on shares of WEX in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $182.40.

WEX Stock Up 6.4%

WEX opened at $135.04 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $138.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.48. WEX Inc. has a twelve month low of $110.45 and a twelve month high of $217.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.26.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. The firm 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 company earned $3.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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.