Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Acquired by Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,319 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,519,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 31.2% during the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 4,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $556,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 19.1% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 8,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,159,000 after buying an additional 1,384 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the third quarter valued at $433,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in Paychex by 2.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 34,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,609,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Down 0.9 %

PAYX stock opened at $147.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $143.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current 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 $151.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.