Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 6,932 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 70.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,726 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,932 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $2,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,262,700,000 after purchasing an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,790,377 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $212,267,000 after buying an additional 113,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX traded down $0.55 during trading on Monday, hitting $146.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,115,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,045,988. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $150.71. The firm has a market cap of $52.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $142.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio 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.