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

Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $217.73.

WEX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of WEX in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of WEX from $247.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Insider Transactions at WEX

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEX

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of WEX by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,163,678 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $873,251,000 after purchasing an additional 25,365 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEX by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,555,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $326,237,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of WEX by 0.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,882 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEX by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 720,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $151,103,000 after purchasing an additional 34,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of WEX by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 374,359 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $65,633,000 after buying an additional 30,395 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Price Performance

NYSE WEX opened at $151.60 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.58. WEX has a 52-week low of $149.29 and a 52-week 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 12.45% and a return on equity of 31.35%. Equities research analysts predict that WEX will post 13.08 earnings per share 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.