Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Meridian Wealth Management LLC

Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,796 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.9% in the third quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 86,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,253,000 after buying an additional 8,208 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Kanawha Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 4,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 1.2% in the third quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 417,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,994,000 after acquiring an additional 5,078 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $153.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $55.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.29, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $154.48. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $145.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $140.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.