Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC

Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,254,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 28,356 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,976,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its position in Paychex by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 10,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 13,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redmond Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 14,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays boosted 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $148.51 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $53.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $144.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.81. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $151.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced 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. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.