Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stake Boosted by Portfolio Design Labs LLC

Portfolio Design Labs LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,555 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,412 shares during the quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 13.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 18,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,549,000 after purchasing an additional 2,321 shares during the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 36.5% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 5,494 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 1,470 shares in the last quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 15,689 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RDA Financial Network grew its holdings in Paychex by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 4,553 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.10 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $52.60 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.72.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued 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 is 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average 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.