WEX (NYSE:WEX) Stock Price Down 7%

WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX)’s stock price fell 7% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $212.00 and last traded at $217.07. 202,257 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 296,253 shares. The stock had previously closed at $233.31.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WEX. StockNews.com lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of WEX from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of WEX from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of WEX in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of WEX from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.00.

WEX Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.07 billion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $230.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $203.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $3.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.29 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $663.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $656.75 million. WEX had a net margin of 10.21% and a return on equity of 30.92%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that WEX Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other WEX news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 309 shares of WEX stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.24, for a total transaction of $72,071.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,528 shares in the company, valued at $1,289,350.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other WEX news, CFO Jagtar Narula sold 309 shares of WEX stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.24, for a total transaction of $72,071.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 5,528 shares in the company, valued at $1,289,350.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ann Elena Drew sold 4,531 shares of WEX stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.03, for a total value of $987,893.93. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $796,463.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,326 shares of company stock worth $6,281,961. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of WEX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WEX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of WEX in the 4th quarter worth $89,745,000. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of WEX in the 4th quarter worth $49,750,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,122,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $607,482,000 after purchasing an additional 179,813 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of WEX by 2,524.0% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 163,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,876,000 after purchasing an additional 157,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of WEX in the third quarter worth $22,115,000. 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.