Focus Partners Wealth Boosts Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 20.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 95,784 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 16,546 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth's holdings in Paychex were worth $13,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC boosted 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 valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $56,918,000 after purchasing an additional 13,702 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 92,996 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $12,479,000 after purchasing an additional 6,431 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 69,450 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $9,738,000 after purchasing an additional 4,159 shares during the period. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 61.7% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,720 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays increased 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. Citigroup raised their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX traded up $1.55 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $155.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,415,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,928,600. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $147.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.76. The company has a market cap of $56.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. Paychex's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS 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 represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. This is an increase from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

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.