Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.72 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 202.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,132 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,449 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $1,721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 220.7% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on PAYX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $143.36.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ PAYX traded up $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $150.43. 908,546 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,907,280. The company has a market cap of $54.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $161.24. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $151.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $147.63.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The firm's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is 90.00%.

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.