City Holding Co. Makes New $42,000 Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 300 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 43,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,138,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 3,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,709 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,601,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PAYX. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $146.29 on Tuesday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $150.71. The company has a market cap of $52.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $142.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.43. 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 results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

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.