Palmer Knight Co Raises Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Palmer Knight Co raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 63,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the quarter. Paychex makes up about 4.0% of Palmer Knight Co’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Palmer Knight Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $8,934,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 156,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,541 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 20.7% during the 4th quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 7,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $990,000 after buying an additional 1,210 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 62,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,782,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 53,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,474,000 after buying an additional 12,600 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 37,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,205,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $146.89 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $142.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.86. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $150.71. 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 company has a market cap of $52.89 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

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.