Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Has $5.96 Million Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 112.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,500 shares during the quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 143,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,717 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 334.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 260,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,966,000 after buying an additional 200,640 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 13,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,802,000 after buying an additional 703 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 15.2% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 37,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,975,000 after acquiring an additional 4,881 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $143.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $51.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

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.