Sava Infond d.o.o. Invests $266,000 in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Sava Infond d.o.o. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,900 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 241,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at $220,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 34.1% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,000 after buying an additional 1,783 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $151.83 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.10. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37. The firm has a market cap of $54.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

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.