Briaud Financial Planning Inc Makes New Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 500 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $70,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. 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 report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $154.52 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day moving average is $146.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.83. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 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.