Bender Robert & Associates Purchases Shares of 1,455 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Bender Robert & Associates bought a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 91.1% in the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,351,000. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 151.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,310,000 after acquiring an additional 5,872 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 5.2 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $146.50 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $146.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $141.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $52.75 billion, a PE ratio of 30.84, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results 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. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

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.