Paymentus (NYSE:PAY) Raised to Strong-Buy at Freedom Broker

Paymentus (NYSE:PAY) was upgraded by Freedom Broker to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Paymentus from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Paymentus from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock 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 research note on Sunday. Wolfe Research lowered Paymentus from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Paymentus from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Two analysts have 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, Paymentus has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.67.

Paymentus Price Performance

Shares of PAY stock opened at $35.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of 54.33 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.45. Paymentus has a 1-year low of $20.11 and a 1-year high of $45.31.

Paymentus (NYSE:PAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $360.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $345.44 million. Paymentus had a net margin of 6.24% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Paymentus will post 0.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $3,263,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 509,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,798,331.52. The trade was a 13.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sanjay Kalra sold 2,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 147,909 shares of company stock worth $5,735,337 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 55.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paymentus

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. KBC Group NV acquired a new position in shares of Paymentus in the first quarter worth $41,000. Orange County Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Paymentus in the fourth quarter valued at $150,000. 9823 Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Paymentus in the fourth quarter valued at $255,000. OP Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Paymentus in the first quarter valued at $215,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB acquired a new position in Paymentus during the 4th quarter worth $306,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

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.