Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stake Boosted by Sigma Planning Corp

Sigma Planning Corp increased its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,326 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Redmond Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 14,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,977,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Physicians Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Paychex by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,811,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $142,000. Finally, Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 10,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,520,000 after buying an additional 4,239 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $148.51 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.27, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $151.72. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $144.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.81.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

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.