Cushing Capital Partners LLC Takes $860,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Cushing Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,131 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $860,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,351,000. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 151.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,310,000 after buying an additional 5,872 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. 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 research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $133.23.

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Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $1.60 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $144.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,573,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,781,974. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $52.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $146.74 and a 200-day moving average of $141.95. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts' expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.