Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Position Boosted by Brighton Jones LLC

Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 26.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $107,340,000 after acquiring an additional 797,843 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,391,000 after buying an additional 317,634 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA boosted its stake in Paychex by 2,139.2% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,667,000 after buying an additional 282,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $146.11 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.16. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $150.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $52.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

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.