WEX (NYSE:WEX) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by Citigroup

WEX (NYSE:WEX) was downgraded by research analysts at Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $190.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $260.00. Citigroup’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 5.53% from the stock’s current price.

WEX has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of WEX from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded WEX from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $219.55.

WEX Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WEX opened at $180.04 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $178.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $185.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.58. WEX has a 52 week low of $165.51 and a 52 week high of $244.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The business services provider reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 12.45% and a return on equity of 31.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.44 EPS. Analysts forecast that WEX will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEX

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,582 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,334.08. This represents a 2.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEX

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WEX. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of WEX in the 2nd quarter valued at about $212,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in WEX by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in WEX by 1.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 50,370 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,922,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in WEX by 34.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 495,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,772,000 after buying an additional 126,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in WEX by 8.6% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.