Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Holdings Lessened by Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY

Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY reduced its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,709 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 69 shares during the quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY’s holdings in Paychex were worth $8,092,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Avion Wealth increased its stake 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 buying an additional 202 shares during the period. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. 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, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock opened at $151.67 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $54.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.93, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.50. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $151.86.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.