WEX (NYSE:WEX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of WEX (NYSE:WEX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on WEX. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $178.00 price objective on WEX in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on WEX from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Mizuho lifted their price target on WEX from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore upgraded WEX to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of WEX in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $209.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $191.10.

WEX Trading Up 0.3%

WEX opened at $185.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.67. WEX has a 1-year low of $125.29 and a 1-year high of $203.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $6.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.68 by $0.45. WEX had a return on equity of 44.56% and a net margin of 14.05%. The business had revenue of $780.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $749.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that WEX will post 17.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Joel Alan Dearborn, Jr. sold 3,343 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $668,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 17,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,404,200. This represents a 16.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Melissa D. Smith sold 28,109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.09, for a total value of $5,343,239.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 126,625 shares in the company, valued at $24,070,146.25. This trade represents a 18.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 33,452 shares of company stock valued at $6,358,960 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEX

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WEX. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in WEX in the second quarter valued at $559,710,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,916,073 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $599,313,000 after acquiring an additional 44,031 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WEX in the 2nd quarter valued at about $446,833,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 823,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $126,056,000 after acquiring an additional 98,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of WEX by 58.5% during the 1st quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 669,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $102,435,000 after acquiring an additional 246,923 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

WEX Company Profile

WEX Inc (NYSE:WEX) is a financial technology company that provides payment-processing and business-management solutions. Its products are designed to help organizations manage corporate spending, employee benefits and mobility-related expenses through specialized payment accounts, software and data tools.

WEX’s mobility business serves commercial vehicle fleets with fuel cards, fleet-payment programs, expense controls, telematics integrations and related solutions. The company also supports emerging mobility needs, including electric-vehicle charging payments.