6,521 Shares in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Purchased by SVB Wealth LLC

SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $914,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after buying an additional 566,943 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after acquiring an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Paychex by 2,404.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,391,000 after acquiring an additional 317,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% in the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,667,000 after purchasing an additional 282,487 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two 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 company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $153.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $154.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $145.51 and a 200-day moving average of $140.91. The company has a market cap of $55.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 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.