Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC

Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Avion Wealth raised its stake in Paychex by 469.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $145.44 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $158.37. The company has a market cap of $52.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.62, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $147.06 and a 200-day moving average of $142.26.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

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.