Tectonic Advisors LLC Increases Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,920 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,850 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $6,860,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Paychex by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in Paychex by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,295,000 after buying an additional 82,091 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research 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 company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $149.51 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $142.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.71. The company has a market capitalization of $53.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $150.71. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Paychex’s 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.