WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) Short Interest Update

WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,150,000 shares, a growth of 46.3% from the January 31st total of 786,000 shares. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 462,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEX

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WEX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in WEX by 105.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,046,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $358,812,000 after buying an additional 1,052,087 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in WEX during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $80,535,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEX by 1,684.2% in the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 201,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,401,000 after acquiring an additional 190,605 shares during the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of WEX by 113.0% in the fourth quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 318,272 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $55,799,000 after acquiring an additional 168,832 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEX during the fourth quarter worth $28,689,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WEX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 price target on WEX in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEX has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $195.73.

WEX Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE WEX traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $154.73. 1,115,637 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 554,206. The company has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.40. 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 one year low of $146.03 and a one year high of $244.04.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 32.35%. On average, analysts predict that WEX will post 14.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.