Waystar (NASDAQ:WAY) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Waystar Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:WAY) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $24.90, but opened at $27.03. Waystar shares last traded at $26.81, with a volume of 971,585 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Waystar from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Waystar to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Waystar in a report on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Waystar in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Waystar from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Waystar currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.14.

Waystar Stock Up 8.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.81 and a 200 day moving average of $22.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Waystar (NASDAQ:WAY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Waystar Holding Corp. will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Matthew Hawkins sold 82,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,804,794 shares in the company, valued at $46,870,500.18. This trade represents a 4.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 165,000 shares of company stock worth $4,206,524. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Waystar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Waystar in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $390,593,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Waystar in the 2nd quarter worth about $357,950,000. Advent International L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Waystar during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $227,060,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Waystar in the second quarter worth $58,960,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Waystar by 1,898.9% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,813,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,752,000 after buying an additional 2,672,333 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.