West Oak Capital LLC Purchases 540 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

West Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 337.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 700 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 540 shares during the quarter. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $98,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 5.6% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 42.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 4,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 0.8% during the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other news, CFO Robert L. Schrader sold 13,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.35, for a total value of $1,852,685.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,471,480.70. This represents a 42.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $1.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $139.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,904,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,963,052. The firm has a market cap of $50.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $142.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.24. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PAYX shares. Barclays increased their price target 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. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

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.