Kentucky Trust Co Makes New Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 7,636 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,071,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $107,340,000 after buying an additional 797,843 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,391,000 after buying an additional 317,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,667,000 after buying an additional 282,487 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $143.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.42. The company has a market cap of $52.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $151.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share 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 dividend yield of 2.68%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.