Welch & Forbes LLC Has $48.17 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Welch & Forbes LLC lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 404,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,087 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $48,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,931,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,451,943,000 after buying an additional 170,453 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,797,671 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $783,975,000 after purchasing an additional 178,316 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Paychex by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,481,555 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $516,858,000 after buying an additional 246,791 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Paychex by 5.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,598,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $415,022,000 after purchasing an additional 182,648 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 26.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,631,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,441,000 after buying an additional 554,968 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PAYX. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock 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 research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.53 on Monday, hitting $120.63. The company had a trading volume of 837,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,794,284. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $121.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $120.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.28, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.09 and a 52 week high of $129.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.56%.

Paychex declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, January 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the business services provider to purchase up to 0.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Paychex Profile

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.