CWS Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

CWS Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 31.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 783 shares during the quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted 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 buying an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth 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 period. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.2% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,440,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 151.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,872 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $149.89 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $151.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $144.29 and a 200 day moving average of $139.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

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.