Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Perennial Investment Advisors LLC

Perennial Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 220.7% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth increased its holdings in Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, 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. Two equities research 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.00.

Paychex Trading Down 6.7 %

PAYX stock opened at $143.32 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $51.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.99. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

About Paychex

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.