Allen Capital Group LLC Purchases 1,210 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Allen Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 20.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,210 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 42.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Paychex by 152.6% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 805.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PAYX. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $147.97 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $150.71. The stock has a market cap of $53.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $142.45 and its 200 day moving average is $136.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 82.53%.

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.