WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Analysts

WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $186.40.

WEX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Evercore upgraded shares of WEX to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of WEX from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of WEX from $161.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of WEX in a research report on Thursday, September 24th.

WEX Stock Performance

WEX stock opened at $197.72 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.84. WEX has a one year low of $125.29 and a one year high of $203.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.72.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The business services provider reported $5.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.08 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $753.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $740.72 million. WEX had a return on equity of 43.19% and a net margin of 12.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.95 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that WEX will post 17.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert Deshaies sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.56, for a total value of $347,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 17,288 shares in the company, valued at $3,000,505.28. This trade represents a 10.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,183 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.55, for a total value of $208,858.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $867,919.80. This trade represents a 19.40% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,110 shares of company stock valued at $7,551,186. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEX

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WEX. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WEX in the second quarter worth about $559,710,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in WEX by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,916,073 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $599,313,000 after purchasing an additional 44,031 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in WEX in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $446,833,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in WEX by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 823,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $126,056,000 after purchasing an additional 98,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of WEX by 58.5% during the 1st quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 669,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $102,435,000 after purchasing an additional 246,923 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

About WEX

WEX Inc (NYSE:WEX) is a financial technology company that provides payment-processing and business-management solutions. Its products are designed to help organizations manage corporate spending, employee benefits and mobility-related expenses through specialized payment accounts, software and data tools.

WEX’s mobility business serves commercial vehicle fleets with fuel cards, fleet-payment programs, expense controls, telematics integrations and related solutions. The company also supports emerging mobility needs, including electric-vehicle charging payments.