Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc

Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 23.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,599 shares during the period. Guinness Atkinson Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 42.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in Paychex by 152.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 293 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 805.9% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.29 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $150.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $142.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.31.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Paychex 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.