Wells Fargo & Company Cuts WEX (NYSE:WEX) Price Target to $160.00

WEX (NYSE:WEX) had its target price decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $180.00 to $160.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on WEX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of WEX from $247.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup lowered WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $209.73.

WEX Stock Performance

NYSE WEX opened at $152.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. WEX has a twelve month low of $146.03 and a twelve month high of $244.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.82.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. Sell-side analysts expect that WEX will post 14.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at WEX

In other news, COO Robert Joseph Deshaies sold 175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.44, for a total transaction of $33,152.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,334.08. The trade was a 2.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEX

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of WEX by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,160,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in WEX during the fourth quarter worth $28,689,000. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its position in WEX by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 725,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $127,255,000 after buying an additional 5,377 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in WEX by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 6,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its holdings in WEX by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 1,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during 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.