Sandy Spring Bank Acquires 979 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Sandy Spring Bank raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 167.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,565 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 979 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $219,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $184,216,000. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 77.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after buying an additional 672,010 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,758,000 after buying an additional 566,943 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position 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 worth $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $143.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $147.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $142.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $158.37.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex 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.