Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases 566,943 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 30,382.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares during the quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned 0.16% of Paychex worth $79,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 129,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,114,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $357,000. Finally, DMKC Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $473,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays increased their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $148.76 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $151.86. The firm has a market cap of $53.56 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $144.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $140.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

About Paychex

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.