Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Increases Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 261,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,132 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $36,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. PGGM Investments grew its holdings in Paychex by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 26,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,711,000 after purchasing an additional 3,664 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Paychex by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 51,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,247,000 after purchasing an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $1,241,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 23,820 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,340,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. Finally, Essential Planning LLC. purchased a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $2,066,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $145.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $52.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50 day moving average is $147.06 and its 200 day moving average is $142.09. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $158.37. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

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.