ICW Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

ICW Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 144 shares during the quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 18,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,641,000 after buying an additional 1,567 shares during the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,419,878,000 after buying an additional 174,817 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $493,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 795,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $111,596,000 after buying an additional 66,633 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $143.02 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.11, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $158.37. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $147.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.78.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PAYX. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

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.