Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 232 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,421 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 91.1% in the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,351,000. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 151.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after buying an additional 5,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $145.01 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.97. The stock has a market cap of $52.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

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. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. 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 previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. 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, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.