Maridea Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Maridea Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,032 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $425,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 241,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,432,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 34.1% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co increased its position in Paychex by 1.6% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 9,024 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,211,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $151.03 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $148.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.30. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.58.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated human capital management solutions (HCM) for payroll, benefits, human resources (HR), and insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States, Europe, and India. It offers payroll processing services; payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.