HM Payson & Co. Buys 530 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

HM Payson & Co. raised its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Avion Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $153.48 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $146.33 and its 200-day moving average is $141.54. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $154.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $55.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PAYX. 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 report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

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.