PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires 16,088 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 711,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,088 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $99,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Avion Wealth boosted its position in Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated 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. raised their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Up 2.4 %

PAYX opened at $153.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $146.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.54. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $154.98. The company has a market capitalization of $55.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

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