Crews Bank & Trust Purchases Shares of 8,074 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,132,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Palmer Knight Co raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Palmer Knight Co now owns 63,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,934,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 156,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,996,000 after acquiring an additional 4,541 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 7,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Paychex by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 62,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,782,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 53,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,474,000 after purchasing an additional 12,600 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $148.66 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71. The firm has a market cap of $53.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $142.45 and a 200 day moving average of $136.86.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 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.