Rialto Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 1,035 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $145,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after buying an additional 190,937 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its stake in Paychex by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $231,295,000 after acquiring an additional 82,091 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $153.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.26 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. 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 50-day moving average price of $146.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.54. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $154.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on 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 raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

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.