Waystar (NASDAQ:WAY) Lowered to Equal Weight Rating by Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays downgraded Waystar from “overweight” to “equal weight” while maintaining a $30 price target, implying approximately 11% upside from the reported $27.02 share price.
• Despite the downgrade, analyst sentiment remains positive: Waystar has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $35.27.
• Waystar recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.43 in EPS versus $0.40 expected and $319.67 million in revenue, up 18.1% year over year; its CEO also sold 82,500 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan.

Waystar (NASDAQ:WAY - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Barclays from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $30.00 target price on the stock. Barclays's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 11.05% from the company's current price.

WAY has been the subject of a number of other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Waystar from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Waystar from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Waystar from $38.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Waystar from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Waystar in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $35.27.

Waystar Price Performance

Shares of Waystar stock traded up $2.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $27.02. The stock had a trading volume of 3,013,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,619,131. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Waystar has a twelve month low of $17.26 and a twelve month high of $40.35. The stock's 50 day moving average is $23.81 and its 200 day moving average is $22.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a PE ratio of 38.60, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.16.

Waystar (NASDAQ:WAY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.03. Waystar had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The business had revenue of $319.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.21 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Waystar will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Matthew Hawkins sold 82,500 shares of Waystar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.97, for a total value of $2,142,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,804,794 shares in the company, valued at $46,870,500.18. This trade represents a 4.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 165,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,206,524 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Waystar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WAY. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Waystar by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 21,474 shares of the company's stock valued at $703,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Waystar by 6,475.0% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Waystar by 10.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,294 shares of the company's stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Waystar by 0.5% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 227,100 shares of the company's stock worth $5,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Finally, Essential Partners LLC increased its holdings in Waystar by 1,432.7% in the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 1,548 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,447 shares during the period.

About Waystar

Waystar Holding Corp. is a healthcare payments technology company that provides cloud-based software for managing administrative and financial processes across the healthcare system. Its platform connects healthcare providers, health plans and patients, helping organizations simplify complex transactions and improve the efficiency of the revenue cycle.

The company's products and services include patient eligibility and coverage verification, claims management and submission, payment processing, prior authorization, denial and appeal management, patient billing, and related workflow automation.

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