Axis Wealth Partners LLC Takes Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Axis Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,469 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $184,216,000. Amundi grew its stake in Paychex by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $153.48 on Monday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $154.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $55.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.31, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day moving average is $146.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.64.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PAYX. Barclays increased their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

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.