Retireful LLC Makes New $546,000 Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Retireful LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 3,891 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $546,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after buying an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after purchasing an additional 190,937 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,790,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $212,267,000 after purchasing an additional 113,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $146.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $142.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $134.90. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

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.