Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,096 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,096 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in 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 bought a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $314,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 54.6% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 36,057 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,056,000 after purchasing an additional 12,732 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Paychex by 1,089.0% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 95,057 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $13,329,000 after purchasing an additional 87,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in Paychex by 46.2% during 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. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX traded up $2.32 on Tuesday, reaching $158.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 366,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,920,006. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $57.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.34, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $148.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.30. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.40 and a 12-month high of $158.43.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.