WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,320,000 shares, a drop of 54.8% from the March 31st total of 5,130,000 shares. Approximately 6.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 price objective on WEX in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America lowered shares of WEX from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WEX has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $185.80.

Institutional Trading of WEX

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WEX. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in WEX by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,283,000 after buying an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of WEX by 1,635.8% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,783 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 8,277 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in WEX by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in WEX by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,008 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,053,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of WEX by 108.4% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 248 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. 97.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WEX Stock Down 6.6 %

NYSE:WEX traded down $8.66 on Thursday, hitting $121.71. The stock had a trading volume of 978,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 554,741. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. WEX has a 52 week low of $110.45 and a 52 week high of $217.47. The business's fifty day moving average is $142.31 and its 200 day moving average is $165.97. The company has a market cap of $4.17 billion, a PE ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.33.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $636.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $631.42 million. WEX had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. WEX's quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that WEX will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.