Mariner LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Mariner LLC boosted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 486,613 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,780 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC owned about 0.14% of Paychex worth $68,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 220.7% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth increased its stake in Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $149.07 on Tuesday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.40 and a twelve month high of $158.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Paychex Company Profile

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.