Griffith & Werner Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Griffith & Werner Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,252 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 120.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 3,783 shares during the period. Red Door Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $314,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 54.6% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 36,057 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,056,000 after buying an additional 12,732 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 1,089.0% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 95,057 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $13,329,000 after purchasing an additional 87,062 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the third 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Citigroup upped their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays increased their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Up 0.1%

NASDAQ PAYX traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $157.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 647,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,916,467. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $149.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.46. 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 $115.40 and a 52 week high of $159.75. The company has a market capitalization of $56.59 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. Paychex's revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. This is an increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 12th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is 90.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

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.