Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Holdings Increased by IFP Advisors Inc

IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 712 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Paychex by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,182,000 after buying an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 91.1% in the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.2% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,440,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after acquiring an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 151.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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 lifted their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $148.76 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $144.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.30. The company has a market cap of $53.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.86. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 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.