Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by Journey Strategic Wealth LLC

Journey Strategic Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 125.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,007 shares during the period. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $758,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Paychex by 152.6% in the second 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. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 65,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,761,000 after purchasing an additional 4,242 shares in the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the third quarter valued at about $219,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Paychex by 6.9% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 103,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,879,000 after buying an additional 6,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 21.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $147.67 on Monday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $150.71. The firm has a market cap of $53.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $142.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

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.