UBS Group Cuts WEX (NYSE:WEX) Price Target to $172.00

WEX (NYSE:WEX) had its price objective lowered by UBS Group from $200.00 to $172.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on WEX from $285.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America cut shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $207.00) on shares of WEX in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $209.73.

WEX Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of WEX opened at $152.00 on Friday. WEX has a fifty-two week low of $146.03 and a fifty-two week high of $244.04. The firm has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $177.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.02.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that WEX will post 14.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total value of $33,152.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,334.08. This represents a 2.26 % 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. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of WEX

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of WEX in the 4th quarter worth about $28,689,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of WEX by 672.7% during the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 154,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,305,000 after purchasing an additional 134,099 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEX by 8.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,555,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $326,237,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of WEX by 328.6% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 127,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after purchasing an additional 97,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of WEX by 82.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 175,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,847,000 after buying an additional 79,252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

About WEX

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.