Fulcrum Capital LLC Acquires 182 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Fulcrum Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 286.0% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 220 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 42.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Paychex by 152.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 805.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Up 1.1 %

PAYX traded up $1.51 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $140.57. 796,991 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,792,780. The stock has a market cap of $50.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.97, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $142.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.51. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $150.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total transaction of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.