Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 7,449 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 202.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,449 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 220.7% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $150.32 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.60. The company has a market cap of $54.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.40 and a 12-month high of $161.24.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued 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 was Monday, May 12th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 90.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on PAYX. Barclays raised their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.36.

Insider Transactions at Paychex

In other Paychex news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.25, for a total transaction of $544,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.