Tidemark LLC Acquires Shares of 336 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Tidemark LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 336 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 80.2% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 343,269 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,887,000 after purchasing an additional 152,818 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 366.5% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after buying an additional 16,391 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,229,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Paychex by 218.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,794,000 after buying an additional 466,890 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PAYX. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued 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 Stock Down 0.3 %

Paychex stock traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $125.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 303,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,740,719. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.39. The company has a market cap of $45.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.09 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.40%.

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.