UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Has $432,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,079 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 220 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the third quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PAYX. Barclays lifted 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 target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.50.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $150.19 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year 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. The firm has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $148.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.04.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Paychex Company 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.