Compass Ion Advisors LLC Has $680,000 Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Compass Ion Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Compass Ion Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $680,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $184,216,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 77.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after purchasing an additional 672,010 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 566,943 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $146.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $147.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.50. The stock has a market cap of $52.93 billion, a PE ratio of 30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 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.