Paymentus Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PAY) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Paymentus, with five hold ratings, one buy, and two strong-buy ratings. The average 12-month price target is $38.67, while recent targets range from $38 to $42.
• Paymentus exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.25 EPS versus $0.19 expected and $360.74 million in revenue, up 28.8% year over year. Its shares opened at $36.16, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.55 billion.
• Insiders sold 147,909 shares worth $5.7 million over the past three months, while institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the stock.

Shares of Paymentus Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PAY - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.6667.

PAY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Paymentus from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Weiss Ratings raised Paymentus from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Seaport Research Partners started coverage on Paymentus in a report on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Paymentus from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th.

Paymentus Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PAY opened at $36.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a PE ratio of 54.79 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $35.71 and a 200 day moving average of $28.62. Paymentus has a one year low of $20.11 and a one year high of $45.31.

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, 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 business had revenue of $360.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $345.44 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Paymentus will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paymentus

In other Paymentus news, CFO Sanjay Kalra sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total value of $1,030,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 508,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,532.26. This trade represents a 4.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gary Trainor sold 80,000 shares of Paymentus stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.79, for a total transaction of $3,263,200.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 509,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,798,331.52. This trade represents a 13.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 147,909 shares of company stock valued at $5,735,337. 55.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Paymentus

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. North Reef Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Paymentus during the 1st quarter worth $18,658,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paymentus in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,127,000. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Paymentus by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,655,433 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $241,835,000 after purchasing an additional 474,780 shares during the period. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group increased its position in Paymentus by 70.6% during the first quarter. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group now owns 733,470 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $18,630,000 after purchasing an additional 303,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castleark Management LLC acquired a new stake in Paymentus during the first quarter worth about $6,878,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently 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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