AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in 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 institutional investor bought 6,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $919,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Avion Wealth boosted its position in Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PAYX. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $151.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $54.67 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $148.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.10. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 81.67%.

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.