Nayax Ltd. (NASDAQ:NYAX) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest surged 63.3% to 29,045 shares as of April 15, roughly 0.1% of the stock and a short-interest ratio of 6.9 days based on average daily volume.
• Analysts are mixed with a consensus rating of "Hold" (three Buy, three Hold, one Sell) and an average target price of $51.67, while firms like William Blair reiterated Outperform and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its target to $60.
• Nayax beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.35 vs. $0.24) though revenue slightly missed, and insiders Aaron Samuel Greenberg and CFO Sagit Manor sold shares on April 22 to cover tax withholding from vested awards.

Nayax Ltd. (NASDAQ:NYAX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 29,045 shares, a growth of 63.3% from the March 31st total of 17,790 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 4,210 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NYAX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Nayax in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Nayax in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Nayax from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Nayax from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.67.

Nayax Price Performance

NASDAQ NYAX traded up $0.30 on Monday, reaching $66.61. The company had a trading volume of 9,865 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,853. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of 70.12 and a beta of 0.10. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $58.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.19. Nayax has a 12 month low of $37.95 and a 12 month high of $66.96.

Nayax (NASDAQ:NYAX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 9th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.11. Nayax had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 11.60%. The company had revenue of $119.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.13 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Nayax will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nayax

In other news, insider Aaron Samuel Greenberg sold 1,002 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.94, for a total transaction of $64,067.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 25,753 shares in the company, valued at $1,646,646.82. This trade represents a 3.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Sagit Manor sold 1,754 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.94, for a total transaction of $112,150.76. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 47,523 shares in the company, valued at $3,038,620.62. The trade was a 3.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Institutional Trading of Nayax

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NYAX. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Nayax by 920.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,500 shares of the company's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Nayax by 43.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 294,430 shares of the company's stock worth $9,966,000 after acquiring an additional 89,886 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nayax by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 33,511 shares of the company's stock worth $1,685,000 after acquiring an additional 5,523 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Nayax by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,087 shares of the company's stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 2,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Nayax by 210.5% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 590 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 34.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nayax Company Profile

Nayax Ltd. is a global fintech company specializing in cashless payment solutions, telematics and management services for unattended retail environments. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Israel, Nayax develops hardware and software platforms that enable vending machines, kiosks, laundromats, e-commerce and self-checkout points to accept a wide range of payment methods, including credit and debit cards, mobile wallets and contactless NFC transactions.

The company’s product portfolio comprises proprietary point-of-sale terminals—such as the VPOS and Carbon series—as well as a cloud-based management suite known as the Monyx platform.

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