Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Acquires New Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after buying an additional 190,937 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $144.13 on Wednesday. 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 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.34, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

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.