Allworth Financial LP Raises Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,382 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its position in Paychex by 469.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. MilWealth Group LLC bought a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $148.40 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $151.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $143.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. 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 report on Monday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.