Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by Arkadios Wealth Advisors

Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 13.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,729 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors' holdings in Paychex were worth $5,431,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 38,655.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $107,340,000 after buying an additional 797,843 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 317,634 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA grew its position in Paychex by 2,139.2% during the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $39,667,000 after purchasing an additional 282,487 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $146.29. The company had a trading volume of 2,115,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,045,988. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $150.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.31. The company has a market capitalization of $52.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Paychex's payout ratio is 82.53%.

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.