Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC Has $3.15 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC grew its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,475 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Paychex by 0.9% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 30,548 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,099,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in Paychex by 59.8% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 25.1% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 729,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $97,856,000 after acquiring an additional 146,421 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 1.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 359,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,288,000 after acquiring an additional 4,606 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $143.02 on Monday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $51.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.11, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PAYX shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

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.