Robert W. Baird Trims WEX (NYSE:WEX) Target Price to $230.00

WEX (NYSE:WEX) had its price target lowered by Robert W. Baird from $285.00 to $230.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price indicates a potential upside of 28.60% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of WEX from $238.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on WEX from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on WEX from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on WEX from $275.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, William Blair upgraded WEX to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.92.

WEX Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of WEX stock opened at $178.85 on Friday. WEX has a 1 year low of $161.95 and a 1 year high of $244.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.28. The firm has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.09. WEX had a return on equity of 31.05% and a net margin of 9.32%. The company had revenue of $673.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $677.44 million. Analysts expect that WEX will post 13.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $101,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 508 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $101,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 7,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,424,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.67, for a total transaction of $299,937.17. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,409,214.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,905 shares of company stock worth $895,107 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEX

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in WEX by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 258,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,374,000 after purchasing an additional 30,306 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WEX by 229.7% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,164 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $989,000 after buying an additional 2,901 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA increased its position in shares of WEX by 5.6% during the second quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 914,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $173,561,000 after acquiring an additional 48,182 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in WEX by 60.0% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 44,981 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,684,000 after acquiring an additional 16,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in WEX in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,253,000. 97.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.