Essex Financial Services Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 18,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,549,000 after buying an additional 2,321 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 36.5% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 5,494 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.9% in the third quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 15,689 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RDA Financial Network increased its position in Paychex by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 4,553 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $146.10 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $143.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.42. The company has a market cap of $52.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $151.72.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Paychex’s 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.