Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Grows Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 6.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berry Wealth Group LP grew its position in Paychex by 40.2% during the 1st quarter. Berry Wealth Group LP now owns 2,157 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 14.3% during the first quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 1,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in Paychex by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 145,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,377,000 after acquiring an additional 7,706 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 10,235 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,579,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $152.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $161.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $151.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $147.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Barclays set a $155.00 target price on Paychex and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.36.

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.