Larson Financial Group LLC Has $101,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 717 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 5,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 711,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $99,698,000 after purchasing an additional 16,088 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in Paychex by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 44,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,459 shares during the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $999,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

Paychex Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $145.01 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $146.84 and its 200-day moving average is $141.97. The stock has a market cap of $52.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $158.37. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. 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.