BankPlus Trust Department Invests $39,000 in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 280 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,391,000 after purchasing an additional 317,634 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,667,000 after purchasing an additional 282,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 334.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 260,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,966,000 after purchasing an additional 200,640 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $151.00 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $151.86. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $144.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.18. The company has a market capitalization of $54.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

About Paychex

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.