Perennial Investment Advisors LLC Raises Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 37,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,975,000 after buying an additional 4,881 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the third quarter worth approximately $5,673,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 9.9% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,880,000 after acquiring an additional 3,282 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Paychex by 51.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 258,739 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,720,000 after acquiring an additional 88,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC now owns 33,787 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,534,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several recent analyst 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.00.

Paychex Trading Down 6.7 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $143.32 on Monday. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $115.40 and a one year high of $158.37. The firm has a market cap of $51.62 billion, a PE ratio of 30.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $148.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company 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 was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

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.