Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 67,951 Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lowered its position in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) by 20.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 266,344 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 67,951 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in WEX were worth $46,695,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WEX. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in WEX by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,283,000 after acquiring an additional 3,439 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in WEX by 1,635.8% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,540,000 after acquiring an additional 8,277 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in WEX by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,008 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in WEX by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in WEX by 108.4% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 248 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of WEX opened at $127.17 on Monday. WEX Inc. has a 52-week low of $110.45 and a 52-week high of $217.47. The business’s fifty day moving average is $138.41 and its 200-day moving average is $161.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, 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 return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. The company had revenue of $636.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $631.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. WEX’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on WEX. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America lowered WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lowered 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. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on WEX from $172.00 to $138.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $182.40.

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.