HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Has $960,000 Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 146 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 6.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after buying an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,055,000 after acquiring an additional 27,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Paychex by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays upped their target price on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.83.

Paychex Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $154.59 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $148.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.65. 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 $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The company has a market capitalization of $55.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 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.