Gen Wealth Partners Inc Grows Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Gen Wealth Partners Inc lifted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 27.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 3.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,918,000 after buying an additional 13,702 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 92,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,479,000 after acquiring an additional 6,431 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 131.7% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,199 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total value of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $151.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.27. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The company has a market cap of $54.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Paychex Profile

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.