Empirical Finance LLC Has $1.54 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Empirical Finance LLC trimmed its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 129 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 2,654 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Paychex by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 34,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,832,000 after purchasing an additional 5,228 shares in the last quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 47,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 4,158 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MWA Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 4,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $146.74 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 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $151.72. The company has a market capitalization of $52.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $143.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.15.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

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.