1,501 Shares in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Bought by Vertex Planning Partners LLC

Vertex Planning Partners LLC bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,501 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 23.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 241,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,432,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $941,000 after acquiring an additional 1,783 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup raised their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.58.

Paychex Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $151.83 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.10. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $158.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.67%.

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.