O Brien Wealth Partners LLC Takes $178,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 1,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $178,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Paychex by 145.0% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 114,891 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,319,000 after buying an additional 67,994 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $230,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $990,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Paychex during the third quarter worth $263,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 422,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,777,000 after buying an additional 123,778 shares during the period. 71.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $107.95. 655,803 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,832,240. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $108.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.00. The stock has a market cap of $38.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.00, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.97. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $104.78 and a fifty-two week high of $139.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 29th. The business services provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.05. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.56% and a net margin of 30.54%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 11th were issued a $0.89 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 10th. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $119.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Paychex from $119.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 30th. Bank of America lowered Paychex from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $119.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Paychex in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $122.79.

Paychex Profile

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Paychex, Inc engages in the provision of human capital management solutions for payroll, human resources, insurance and retirement for small and medium-sized businesses. Its solutions include payroll services, hiring services, business insurance, time and attendance, employee benefits, finance and payments, human resources services and startup services.