Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Acquired by L.M. Kohn & Company

L.M. Kohn & Company grew its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. L.M. Kohn & Company’s holdings in Paychex were worth $978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its position in Paychex by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 1,952 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,171,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Rogco LP boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Rogco LP now owns 8,469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,852 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. 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 recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on 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 reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

Paychex Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $125.57. The company had a trading volume of 896,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,760,219. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.09 and a 12 month 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. The stock has a market cap of $45.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.28, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.12.

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

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s payout ratio is 85.40%.

About Paychex

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.