Welch & Forbes LLC Cuts Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 384,634 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,524 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Paychex worth $53,933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Avion Wealth grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 469.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, 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. Two 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.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $133.23.

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Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock traded down $8.02 on Tuesday, hitting $146.50. The stock had a trading volume of 2,955,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,780,309. The company's 50 day moving average price is $146.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.83. The stock has a market cap of $52.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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 of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.