Marino Stram & Associates LLC Purchases 122 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Marino Stram & Associates LLC lifted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Paychex by 152.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 293 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 805.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock opened at $144.77 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $142.18 and a 200-day moving average of $135.83. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $52.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

Paychex 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.