Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Raises Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 27.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 41,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,958 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 42.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 805.9% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $150.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.02 billion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $151.72. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $143.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.36. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

Paychex Company 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.