Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 3,096 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Monument Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,714 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Emerald Advisors LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Adero Partners LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $156.22 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $148.02 and its 200-day moving average is $146.04. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The firm has a market cap of $56.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on PAYX. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex 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.