William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 510,498 Paymentus Holdings, Inc. $PAY

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Paymentus Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PAY) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 510,498 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $16,127,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PAY. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in Paymentus by 210.1% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 4,694,109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $143,640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,180,156 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Paymentus by 115.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,788,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $115,916,000 after acquiring an additional 2,032,819 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Paymentus by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,180,653 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $219,728,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072,387 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paymentus by 33.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,638,609 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $111,341,000 after acquiring an additional 903,627 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of Paymentus during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,503,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on PAY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Paymentus from $37.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Paymentus in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Paymentus from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Paymentus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Paymentus from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paymentus has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.20.

Paymentus Stock Performance

NYSE:PAY opened at $23.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.14 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.46. Paymentus Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.02 and a 1-year high of $40.02.

Paymentus (NYSE:PAY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The business services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $358.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $335.45 million. Paymentus had a return on equity of 13.75% and a net margin of 5.78%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paymentus Holdings, Inc. will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

About Paymentus

Paymentus is a U.S.-based financial technology company that specializes in cloud-native bill payment and presentment solutions. Its platform enables businesses and government entities to manage the entire payment lifecycle, from electronic bill presentment and real-time payment processing to reconciliation and reporting. Through web portals, mobile applications, interactive voice response (IVR) systems and in-person channels, Paymentus helps clients streamline accounts receivable operations, enhance customer engagement and reduce operational costs.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, Paymentus has built a modular suite of services that can be tailored to the needs of various industries.