ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Acquires 257 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $249,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Paychex by 80.2% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,887,000 after purchasing an additional 152,818 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,229,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 366.5% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 16,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 218.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,794,000 after purchasing an additional 466,890 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX stock traded up $1.65 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $120.10. 1,540,545 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,951,709. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $121.48 and its 200 day moving average is $120.40. The stock has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.09 and a 52-week high of $129.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

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. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.56%.

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.