Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC Has $1.68 Million Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC increased its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,965 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWS Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 783 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $148,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. GHE LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 21,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,867,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Paychex by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $898,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target 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 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $149.89 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $53.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $151.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $144.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.