Short Interest in WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) Declines By 54.8%

WEX Inc. (NYSE:WEX) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,320,000 shares, a drop of 54.8% from the March 31st total of 5,130,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 6.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of WEX

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WEX. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of WEX by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,283,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of WEX by 1,635.8% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,540,000 after buying an additional 8,277 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of WEX by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of WEX by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,008 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted 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. 97.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on WEX. Robert W. Baird set a $186.00 target price on WEX in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup lowered WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on WEX from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America downgraded shares of WEX from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of WEX from $160.00 to $140.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $185.80.

WEX Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of WEX stock traded up $0.05 on Monday, hitting $129.96. The company had a trading volume of 146,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 897,176. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $144.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.68. 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 firm has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.33. WEX has a twelve month low of $110.45 and a twelve month high of $220.32.

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