Brighton Jones LLC Acquires 165 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,643 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 46,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Paychex by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 70,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,408,000 after acquiring an additional 4,528 shares during the period. Intrust Bank NA grew its stake in Paychex by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 2,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 3,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $118.45 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $121.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.09 and a 52-week high of $129.70. The company has a market cap of $42.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.81, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.93.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 77.56%.

Paychex declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, January 19th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Paychex Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.