Norges Bank Invests $80.54 Million in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 459,361 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $80,535,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of WEX by 105.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,046,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $358,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052,087 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in WEX by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,240,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $260,265,000 after acquiring an additional 3,882 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its position in WEX by 0.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of WEX by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 481,490 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $84,415,000 after purchasing an additional 23,859 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of WEX by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 374,359 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $65,633,000 after purchasing an additional 30,395 shares in the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WEX shares. Citigroup lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays dropped their target price on WEX from $200.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reduced their price target on WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America downgraded WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $187.80.

WEX Stock Performance

Shares of WEX opened at $161.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a PE ratio of 21.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.61. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $160.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.50. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.03 and a 12-month high of $244.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

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.