Jackson Wealth Management LLC Invests $3.71 Million in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Jackson Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 26,439 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,707,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Weaver Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 10,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 14,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 102.1% during the 4th quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 12,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,781,000 after purchasing an additional 6,418 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price target 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $149.51 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $142.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.52. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $150.71. 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 capitalization of $53.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.