Fulcrum Capital LLC Boosts Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Fulcrum Capital LLC grew its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Fulcrum Capital LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after buying an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after purchasing an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 19.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $279,351,000 after buying an additional 384,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.8% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,790,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $212,267,000 after acquiring an additional 113,856 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares in the company, valued at $2,471,480.70. The trade was a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two 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, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX traded up $1.51 on Monday, reaching $140.57. The stock had a trading volume of 796,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,792,780. The company has a market capitalization of $50.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $142.35 and a 200-day moving average of $134.51.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Paychex 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.