Madison Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 68,126 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,553,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Avion Wealth raised its position in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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Paychex Trading Down 0.7 %

Paychex stock traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $146.99. The stock had a trading volume of 1,351,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,768,920. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The stock has a market cap of $52.93 billion, a PE ratio of 30.95, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Paychex 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.