Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by Strong Tower Advisory Services

Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 652 shares during the quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Paychex were worth $2,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 10.4% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.7% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 24,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,858,000 after buying an additional 1,510 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,059 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its position in Paychex by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 12,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,428,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,604 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Down 0.4 %

PAYX opened at $146.29 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $142.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $150.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

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.