WEX (NYSE:WEX) Upgraded by William Blair to “Strong-Buy”

WEX (NYSE:WEX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at William Blair to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on WEX. Barclays upped their target price on WEX from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of WEX from $275.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on WEX from $272.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on WEX from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on WEX from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.08.

WEX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEX opened at $180.44 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $180.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.75. The company has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.54. WEX has a 12-month low of $161.95 and a 12-month high of $244.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.15. WEX had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 31.05%. The company had revenue of $652.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $653.52 million. Equities analysts expect that WEX will post 13.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other WEX news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,897 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.01, for a total value of $400,285.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,408 shares in the company, valued at $1,985,182.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other WEX news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,897 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.01, for a total value of $400,285.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 9,408 shares in the company, valued at $1,985,182.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Sara Trickett sold 734 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.43, for a total transaction of $154,455.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,911 shares of company stock valued at $1,008,402 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WEX. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEX during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of WEX during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of WEX during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of WEX by 456.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 228 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of WEX by 233.9% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 187 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. 97.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

WEX Company Profile

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.