WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $234.23.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays upped their target price on WEX from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on WEX from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. TheStreet raised shares of WEX from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of WEX from $205.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th.

Insider Activity at WEX

In other WEX news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.24, for a total value of $127,565.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $288,245.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.24, for a total transaction of $72,071.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,289,350.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.24, for a total value of $127,565.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $288,245.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 69,433 shares of company stock valued at $14,708,896. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEX

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of WEX by 56.1% during the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 141,287 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,575,000 after purchasing an additional 50,771 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. raised its holdings in WEX by 131.1% during the third quarter. Burney Co. now owns 21,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,972,000 after buying an additional 11,983 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in WEX by 65.5% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 54,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,255,000 after buying an additional 21,578 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in WEX in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,545,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WEX by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,131,124 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $777,023,000 after buying an additional 83,102 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of WEX stock opened at $235.83 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $226.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $200.91. The firm has a market cap of $9.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.59. WEX has a fifty-two week low of $161.95 and a fifty-two week high of $244.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.29 by ($0.15). WEX had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 31.33%. The business had revenue of $663.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $656.75 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that WEX will post 13.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About WEX

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.