WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,950,000 shares, an increase of 87.5% from the February 28th total of 1,040,000 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 733,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on WEX. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of WEX from $200.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of WEX from $215.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of WEX in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on WEX from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $187.80.

WEX Stock Down 0.4 %

WEX stock traded down $0.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $154.69. The stock had a trading volume of 1,311,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 493,003. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07. The company has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.61. WEX has a one year low of $146.03 and a one year high of $244.04. The company’s 50 day moving average is $162.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $179.13.

WEX (NYSE:WEX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that WEX will post 14.09 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEX

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in shares of WEX in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in WEX in the third quarter worth about $35,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in WEX in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of WEX by 108.4% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 248 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of WEX by 552.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 261 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. 97.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.