Xponance Inc. Purchases 3,018 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,018 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $8,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 13.2% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,435 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 99,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Paychex by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 30,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,099,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Baron Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $487,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Down 0.7 %

Paychex stock opened at $146.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.93 billion, a PE ratio of 30.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $147.45 and its 200-day moving average is $142.50. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share 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%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. 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.