Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Increases Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC now owns 22,475 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,151,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 18,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after acquiring an additional 1,567 shares in the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 174,817 shares during the period. Finally, Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $493,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on PAYX. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Down 0.5 %

PAYX stock opened at $144.13 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $147.91 and a 200 day moving average of $142.99. The firm has a market cap of $51.90 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month 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.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 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.