WEX’s (WEX) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Barclays

Barclays restated their equal weight rating on shares of WEX (NYSE:WEX) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Barclays currently has a $200.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $207.00.

WEX has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wolfe Research cut WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEX has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.64.

WEX Stock Performance

WEX stock opened at $167.45 on Tuesday. 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 $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.57. WEX has a 1-year low of $165.51 and a 1-year high of $244.04. The company’s 50-day moving average is $187.12 and its 200 day moving average is $186.26.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.03 million. WEX had a return on equity of 31.35% and a net margin of 12.45%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.44 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that WEX will post 13.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,334.08. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WEX during the second quarter worth about $390,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in WEX by 456.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 228 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in WEX by 78.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 7,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,296,000 after purchasing an additional 3,215 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in WEX by 115.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,489 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEX in the second quarter worth $250,000. 97.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.