Bradyco Inc. Takes Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Bradyco Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,860 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $681,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth about $184,216,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 30,382.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $79,758,000 after purchasing an additional 566,943 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Paychex by 46.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $46,391,000 after buying an additional 317,634 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $8.02 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $146.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,955,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,780,309. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The firm has a market cap of $52.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $146.62 and a 200-day moving average of $141.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $133.23.

Paychex Company 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.