Advisory Alpha LLC Invests $273,000 in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Advisory Alpha LLC purchased a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYXFree Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,947 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 5,543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. White Pine Investment CO lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. White Pine Investment CO now owns 25,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,518,000 after acquiring an additional 761 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 327,525 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $45,926,000 after acquiring an additional 48,965 shares during the period. JBGlobal.com LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $908,000. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 135.5% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $537,000 after acquiring an additional 2,205 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on PAYX

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $144.75 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. 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 firm has a market cap of $52.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.47, a PEG ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $142.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.89.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYXGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

About Paychex

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX)

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