Wedmont Private Capital Purchases 560 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) by 21.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,186 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 560 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Paychex were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Syntal Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 0.9% in the third quarter. Syntal Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Consulting Group Inc grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.9% during the second quarter. Vantage Consulting Group Inc now owns 1,884 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.1% during the second quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.9% during the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,216 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.3% during the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. 71.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $107.53 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.66 and a 12-month high of $141.92. The company has a market capitalization of $38.76 billion, a PE ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average of $114.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.04. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.50% and a net margin of 30.45%. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 9th were issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 8th. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 78.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Paychex from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 13th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price target on Paychex to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Paychex from $121.00 to $119.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Paychex from $123.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Paychex from $117.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Paychex

In other Paychex news, VP Michael E. Gioja sold 13,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.30, for a total value of $1,584,683.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 33,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,835,800.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Paychex Company Profile

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Paychex, Inc engages in the provision of human capital management solutions for payroll, human resources, insurance and retirement for small and medium-sized businesses. Its solutions include payroll services, hiring services, business insurance, time and attendance, employee benefits, finance and payments, human resources services and startup services.