Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Has $269,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 53.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,919 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 668 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,182,000 after buying an additional 4,157 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 91.1% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Paychex by 6.2% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,440,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 151.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on 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 reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $152.10 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $154.98. The stock has a market cap of $54.77 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $145.94 and a 200-day moving average of $141.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.