Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Purchases 396 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Paychex during the third quarter worth $26,000. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 91.5% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its position in Paychex by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 351 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In related news, VP Mark Anthony Bottini sold 15,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.53, for a total value of $1,865,924.93. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 82,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,966,625.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup cut their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $121.23 on Tuesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.09 and a 52 week high of $129.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $122.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $120.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.93.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to purchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Paychex Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.