Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys 263 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PAYX. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 32,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,337,000 after acquiring an additional 9,681 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Paychex by 38,655.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in Paychex by 17.4% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 3,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 36.7% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,773,000 after purchasing an additional 3,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,847 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Down 1.2 %

PAYX opened at $148.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $151.72. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $144.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.27, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

About Paychex

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.