Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Acquired by Savant Capital LLC

Savant Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 337.3% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,544,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $178,162,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191,539 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 229.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,630,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $188,655,000 after buying an additional 1,136,456 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 26.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,631,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,441,000 after acquiring an additional 554,968 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Paychex by 218.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,794,000 after acquiring an additional 466,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 990,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $114,179,000 after acquiring an additional 276,446 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten 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 a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $120.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $121.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.09 and a 12 month high of $129.70.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, January 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.56%.

Paychex Company Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.