Empirical Finance LLC Has $1.54 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Empirical Finance LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 129 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $218,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in 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. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in Paychex by 15.5% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in shares of Paychex by 72.7% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 4,030 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Bank bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $146.74 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick 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. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $143.02 and its 200-day moving average is $138.15.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.