Intrust Bank NA Raises Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Intrust Bank NA boosted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,578 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the quarter. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Paychex were worth $361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in Paychex by 6.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after buying an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,055,000 after buying an additional 27,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $151.03 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.37. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $54.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PAYX. UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

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.