Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 500 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 28.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,238 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $570,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after purchasing an additional 946 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its stake in Paychex by 129.7% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 118,524 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,619,000 after acquiring an additional 66,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 107.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 927,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $130,066,000 after acquiring an additional 479,488 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 1.3 %

PAYX stock opened at $145.44 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a PEG 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.26.

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 return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Company 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.