Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,140 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Avion Wealth grew its stake in Paychex by 469.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $152.10 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $145.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.17. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $154.98. The company has a market cap of $54.77 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, 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 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. 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.