Griffith & Werner Inc. Makes New Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Griffith & Werner Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,252 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 118,140 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,565,000 after acquiring an additional 1,945 shares in the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $207,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,564,000. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $4,187,000. Finally, Pacific Point Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $1,357,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup raised their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of Paychex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

PAYX opened at $156.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.40 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $148.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.27. The stock has a market cap of $56.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.00%.

Paychex Company 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.