WEX (NYSE:WEX) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) shares saw strong trading volume on Thursday . 720,984 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 43% from the previous session’s volume of 504,640 shares.The stock last traded at $151.33 and had previously closed at $161.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on WEX from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup cut WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEX presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $187.80.

WEX Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $158.97 and a 200 day moving average of $177.75. The firm has a market cap of $4.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.61.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.16. WEX had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 11.78%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that WEX Inc. will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in WEX by 191.9% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after acquiring an additional 2,291 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in WEX during the 3rd quarter valued at about $727,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of WEX by 79.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 6,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,851 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of WEX by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 13,868 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,909,000 after buying an additional 2,286 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in WEX by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,240,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $260,265,000 after buying an additional 3,882 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.