Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 384,634 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,524 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $53,933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 714 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $826,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 2,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 27,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,675,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Point Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Paychex by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Two Point Capital Management Inc. now owns 71,764 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,630,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on PAYX. UBS Group boosted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Down 1.5 %

Paychex stock opened at $149.89 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $154.98. 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 company has a market capitalization of $53.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.56, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.23.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Paychex 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.