AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 6,550 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $919,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Avion Wealth increased its holdings in Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC bought a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the third quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $151.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $143.10. 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 fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.58.

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.