Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases Shares of 1,804 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,804 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 337.3% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,544,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $178,162,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191,539 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 229.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,630,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $188,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,456 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,631,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,441,000 after purchasing an additional 554,968 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 218.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,794,000 after purchasing an additional 466,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 990,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $114,179,000 after purchasing an additional 276,446 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen cut 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. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Up 0.9 %

Paychex stock opened at $121.30 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $121.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.49. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $104.09 and a 1-year high of $129.70. The company has a market cap of $43.66 billion, a PE ratio of 26.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

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

Paychex declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.