Sandy Spring Bank Buys 979 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Sandy Spring Bank lifted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 167.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,565 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 979 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Paychex by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 30,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,099,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Paychex by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 1,206 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 13,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,771,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Paychex by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 371,827 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,895,000 after buying an additional 40,712 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $143.02 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.63. 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 $51.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on PAYX. Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

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.