WEX (NYSE:WEX) Stock Bumped Up to “Strong-Buy” by Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of WEX (NYSE:WEX) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on WEX. Evercore upgraded WEX to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Wall Street Zen raised WEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on WEX from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded WEX from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.10.

WEX Price Performance

WEX stock opened at $180.17 on Tuesday. WEX has a 52-week low of $125.29 and a 52-week high of $203.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $184.99 and a 200-day moving average of $164.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $6.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.68 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $780.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $749.74 million. WEX had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 45.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.59 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that WEX will post 18.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at WEX

In other WEX news, COO Robert Deshaies sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.56, for a total value of $347,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 17,288 shares in the company, valued at $3,000,505.28. The trade was a 10.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.09, for a total transaction of $5,343,239.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 126,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,070,146.25. The trade was 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,452 shares of company stock valued at $6,358,960. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WEX

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEX in the second quarter worth $559,710,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in WEX during the 2nd quarter valued at $446,833,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in WEX during the 2nd quarter valued at $115,086,000. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $102,435,000 after acquiring an additional 246,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in WEX during the 2nd quarter worth $30,672,000. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About WEX

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.