Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 24,442 WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 24,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,285,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEX. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of WEX by 0.6% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,163,678 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $873,251,000 after purchasing an additional 25,365 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in WEX by 105.8% in 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in WEX by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,240,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $260,265,000 after acquiring an additional 3,882 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $127,255,000 after acquiring an additional 5,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of WEX by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 481,490 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $84,415,000 after acquiring an additional 23,859 shares during the period. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEX opened at $161.07 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.61. WEX Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.03 and a 1-year high of $244.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. Research analysts expect that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 price target on shares of WEX in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $187.80.

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.