Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Acquires 5,153 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 91.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,808 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $1,515,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,262,700,000 after buying an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Paychex by 19.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $279,351,000 after buying an additional 384,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 1.8 %

PAYX stock traded up $2.56 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $144.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,787,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,080,600. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.84.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 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 the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.98% and a return on equity of 45.97%. The firm's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Paychex's payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $132.23.

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.