Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Sells 270 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC reduced its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,249 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 270 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dearborn Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 11,234 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,438,000. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 20,499 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,874,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its position in Paychex by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 9,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $145.01 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $146.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.97. 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 cap of $52.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

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.