Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 104 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Paychex makes up approximately 1.1% of Shoker Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Paychex by 3.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Paychex by 2,404.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,391,000 after buying an additional 317,634 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA raised its position in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% in the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,667,000 after buying an additional 282,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $148.76 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $144.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $140.30. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.86. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $53.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.