Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Purchases 12,451 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc lifted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 826.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,958 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,451 shares during the quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 220.7% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Avion Wealth grew its position in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock opened at $157.66 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $149.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $56.79 billion, a PE ratio of 33.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.91. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.40 and a twelve month high of $159.75.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $1.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. This is an increase from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity at Paychex

In related news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This represents a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.