Bank of Jackson Hole Trust Purchases New Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,136 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $720,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,262,700,000 after buying an additional 190,937 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $231,295,000 after buying an additional 82,091 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $148.40 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $139.28. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $151.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $53.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

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.