Kentucky Trust Co Takes Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,636 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,071,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 18,998 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,549,000 after buying an additional 2,321 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 36.5% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 5,494 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 1,470 shares in the last quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 15,689 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RDA Financial Network raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 4,553 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Paychex Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded down $1.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $147.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,052,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,726,092. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $151.72. 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 stock has a market cap of $53.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.83.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Paychex's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex's payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.