Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,820 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 190,937 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its position in shares of Paychex by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,295,000 after purchasing an additional 82,091 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $145.44 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $147.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.17. The stock has a market cap of $52.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month 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.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

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.