Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Position Raised by Summit Financial LLC

Summit Financial LLC lifted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,940 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $833,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $184,216,000. Amundi boosted its position in Paychex by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in Paychex by 86.5% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,746,000 after acquiring an additional 628,912 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $78,215,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup upped their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.83.

Paychex Stock Up 0.2 %

Paychex stock opened at $154.94 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $148.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.73. The firm has a market cap of $55.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 81.67%.

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.