Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Sells 218 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 218 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gallacher Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 6,143 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 5,064 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 333,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,268,000 after acquiring an additional 71,367 shares during the last quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 156.1% during the 4th quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forte Capital LLC ADV boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 34,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,097,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $120.63. 837,892 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,794,284. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.09 and a fifty-two week high of $129.70. The company has a market capitalization of $43.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $121.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $120.44.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 77.56%.

Paychex announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, January 19th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the business services provider to repurchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.