Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Purchases 3,406 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 89,971 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,406 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $12,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $184,216,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,807,554 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $674,115,000 after buying an additional 694,651 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Paychex by 77.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in Paychex by 86.5% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $189,746,000 after acquiring an additional 628,912 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 30,382.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $158.14. 609,785 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,907,978. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $159.75. 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 firm has a market cap of $56.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.31, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $149.76 and a 200-day moving average of $146.70.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Paychex from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $142.55.

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.