WEX (NYSE:WEX) Lifted to Strong-Buy at William Blair

William Blair upgraded shares of WEX (NYSE:WEX) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on WEX. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of WEX from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on WEX from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on WEX from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday. 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of WEX from $272.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEX presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $240.42.

WEX Trading Up 4.8 %

Shares of WEX opened at $180.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. WEX has a 1-year low of $161.95 and a 1-year high of $244.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.54. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $180.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $205.85.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The business services provider reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $652.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $653.52 million. WEX had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 31.05%. Analysts expect that WEX will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other WEX news, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,200 shares of WEX stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.55, for a total transaction of $253,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $403,848.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Sara Trickett sold 734 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.43, for a total transaction of $154,455.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jennifer Kimball sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.55, for a total value of $253,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,909 shares in the company, valued at $403,848.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,911 shares of company stock worth $1,008,402 in the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of WEX

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEX in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in WEX in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in WEX in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of WEX by 233.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 187 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of WEX by 456.1% during the second 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

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.