WEX (NYSE:WEX) Trading 8.8% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) rose 8.8% during trading on Thursday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $186.00 to $198.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. WEX traded as high as $178.68 and last traded at $177.76. Approximately 477,742 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average daily volume of 729,387 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.40.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WEX. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of WEX from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on WEX from $172.00 to $138.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of WEX in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEX has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $175.55.

Insider Activity at WEX

In related news, CEO Melissa D. Smith purchased 3,721 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $134.57 per share, with a total value of $500,734.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 101,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,616,061.74. This represents a 3.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,400 shares of WEX stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.08, for a total transaction of $183,512.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $416,441.16. This represents a 30.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 1.0% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 59,053 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $9,272,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of WEX by 27,871.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 69,089 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,848,000 after purchasing an additional 68,842 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of WEX by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,283,000 after buying an additional 3,439 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of WEX by 88.5% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 10,002 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,571,000 after buying an additional 4,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,053,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company's stock.

WEX Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.06, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $143.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $149.13. The company has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.23.

WEX (NYSE:WEX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.11. WEX had a return on equity of 37.90% and a net margin of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $636.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $631.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.46 earnings per share. WEX's quarterly revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that WEX Inc. 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.

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