Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Harvey Investment Co. LLC

Harvey Investment Co. LLC raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 182,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Paychex makes up about 3.0% of Harvey Investment Co. LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Harvey Investment Co. LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $25,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake 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 worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock opened at $150.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.89. The stock has a market cap of $54.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $151.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 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.