Brokerages Set WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) PT at $227.73

Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $219.55.

Several research firms have recently commented on WEX. Bank of America raised their price target on WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $200.00 price target (down previously from $207.00) on shares of WEX in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of WEX stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total transaction of $33,152.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,334.08. This trade represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of WEX

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in WEX by 124.2% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 40,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,572,000 after buying an additional 22,638 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of WEX in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,227,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in WEX by 300.4% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 68,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,375,000 after buying an additional 51,423 shares in the last quarter. Maven Securities LTD acquired a new stake in shares of WEX in the second quarter valued at $2,657,000. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC raised its position in WEX by 672.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 154,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,305,000 after purchasing an additional 134,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE WEX opened at $180.04 on Monday. WEX has a 1 year low of $165.51 and a 1 year high of $244.04. The company has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $665.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.03 million. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that WEX will post 13.1 earnings per share for the current 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.