Cape ANN Savings Bank Makes New Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Cape ANN Savings Bank bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 1,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Avion Wealth boosted 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 valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 42.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $148.51 on Monday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $151.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $144.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.81. The company has a market capitalization of $53.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.