Tang Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Tang Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,973 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $978,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in shares of Paychex by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,027 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,444 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,025,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,419,000. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its position in shares of Paychex by 92.1% in the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 12,263 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,720,000 after purchasing an additional 5,880 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays upped their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock traded down $1.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $156.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,217,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,930,775. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.40 and a twelve month high of $158.37. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.27 billion, a PE ratio of 32.89, 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, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a $1.08 dividend. This is a boost from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

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.