Apollon Wealth Management LLC Has $4.83 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,228 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Paychex by 3.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after purchasing an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake 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 worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,295,000 after buying an additional 82,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.74 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $151.72. The stock has a market cap of $52.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $143.02 and a 200-day moving average of $138.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.