Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 4,785 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $671,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth increased its position in Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the third quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of 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 assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $148.40 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $151.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $143.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.28. The company has a market cap of $53.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.24, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.