World Investment Advisors Has $923,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

World Investment Advisors grew its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 49.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,165 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Paychex were worth $923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $2,327,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,339,463,000 after purchasing an additional 126,962 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Paychex by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 272,810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,256,000 after purchasing an additional 14,071 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 5,940 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $143.32 on Monday. 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 fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The stock has a market cap of $51.62 billion, a PE ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $148.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.99.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

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.