Wealthspire Advisors LLC Sells 814 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 814 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Avion Wealth increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 42.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $149.89 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $144.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.99. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $151.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note 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 note on Monday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

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.