Paymentus (NYSE:PAY) Upgraded by Freedom Broker to Strong-Buy Rating

Key Points

• Freedom Broker upgraded Paymentus to “strong buy.” The stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average analyst price target of $38.67.
• Paymentus reported quarterly EPS of $0.25, exceeding the $0.19 estimate, while revenue rose 28.8% year over year to $360.74 million.
• Shares opened at $35.86 after falling 3.3%; insiders have sold 147,909 shares worth approximately $5.7 million over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 78.38% of the stock.

Paymentus (NYSE:PAY - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Freedom Broker to a "strong-buy" rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

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

Paymentus Stock Down 3.3%

PAY stock opened at $35.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.33 and a beta of 1.31. Paymentus has a 52 week low of $20.11 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.45.

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

Insider Activity at Paymentus

In other news, Director Gary Trainor sold 80,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.79, for a total value of $3,263,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 509,888 shares in the company, valued at $20,798,331.52. This represents a 13.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Sanjay Kalra sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total value of $1,030,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 508,506 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,955,532.26. This represents a 4.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 147,909 shares of company stock worth $5,735,337. Insiders own 55.75% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Paymentus

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KBC Group NV purchased a new stake in shares of Paymentus during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Orange County Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Paymentus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $150,000. 9823 Capital L.P. purchased a new position in Paymentus in the fourth quarter worth approximately $255,000. OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Paymentus in the first quarter worth approximately $215,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB acquired a new stake in Paymentus during the fourth quarter worth $306,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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