Paymentus (NYSE:PAY) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Paymentus from “hold” to “buy,” although the broader analyst consensus remains “Hold” with a $38.67 price target.
• Paymentus reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.25 beating estimates by $0.06 and revenue of $360.74 million rising 28.8% year over year.
• PAY shares opened at $36.43, while insiders have sold $5.74 million worth of stock over the past three months; institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company.

Paymentus (NYSE:PAY - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Paymentus from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Paymentus from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Paymentus from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Paymentus from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $38.67.

Paymentus Stock Performance

Shares of PAY stock opened at $36.43 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $35.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.26. Paymentus has a 52-week low of $20.11 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The stock has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of 55.19 and a beta of 1.31.

Paymentus (NYSE:PAY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.06. Paymentus had a net margin of 6.24% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The company had revenue of $360.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $345.44 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Paymentus will post 0.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Paymentus news, CFO Sanjay Kalra sold 2,909 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.25, for a total transaction of $117,087.25. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 505,597 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,350,279.25. This trade represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gary Trainor sold 80,000 shares of Paymentus stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.79, for a total transaction of $3,263,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 509,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,798,331.52. The trade was a 13.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 147,909 shares of company stock valued at $5,735,337. 55.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paymentus

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in shares of Paymentus in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paymentus during the fourth quarter worth about $80,000. Orange County Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Paymentus during the fourth quarter worth about $150,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Paymentus by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,050 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 1,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Paymentus in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $204,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Paymentus

Paymentus Holdings, Inc NYSE: PAY provides cloud-based electronic bill presentment and payment technology. Its platform enables organizations to issue bills and invoices, accept digital payments, and manage payment-related communications through web, mobile, text, interactive voice response, and other channels.

The company serves billers across industries including utilities, government, financial services, telecommunications, insurance, and other recurring-payment businesses. Its offerings are designed to support payment processing, billing and account management, customer engagement, automated notifications, and related back-office workflows through a unified software platform.

Paymentus was founded in 2004 and primarily serves organizations in the United States and Canada.

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