Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC Purchases Shares of 336,635 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 336,635 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $47,203,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC owned about 0.09% of Paychex as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Paychex by 46.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position 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 worth $56,918,000 after purchasing an additional 13,702 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Paychex by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 92,996 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $12,479,000 after buying an additional 6,431 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in Paychex by 131.7% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,199 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Finally, Graypoint LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,428 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $621,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $151.65 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $54.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.93, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $147.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $145.32. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be given a $1.08 dividend. 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 2.85%. This is a boost from Paychex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Insider Activity at Paychex

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on PAYX shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a "hold" rating in a 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 report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.00.

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.

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