Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 9,132 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 261,638 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,132 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.07% of Paychex worth $36,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Monument Capital Management grew its stake in Paychex by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,714 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Emerald Advisors LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Adero Partners LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.54 on Wednesday, hitting $147.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,722,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,770,671. 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 fifty day moving average of $147.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

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.