Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Has $2.29 Million Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 581 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 80.2% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,887,000 after purchasing an additional 152,818 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $1,229,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 366.5% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 16,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 218.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,794,000 after buying an additional 466,890 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on PAYX shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Up 0.7 %

Paychex stock opened at $120.81 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.09 and a 1-year high of $129.70. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.41. The company has a market cap of $43.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Paychex announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to repurchase up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Paychex

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.