Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Acquires 74 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. EWA LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the first quarter worth $208,000. Absher Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Paychex by 3.5% in the first quarter. Absher Wealth Management LLC now owns 126,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,543,000 after purchasing an additional 4,275 shares during the last quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the first quarter worth $209,000. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its position in Paychex by 4.5% in the first quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Praxis Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 13.8% in the first quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,794 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $585,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph M. Velli sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 78,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,709,408.75. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of 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 lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.36.

Paychex Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of PAYX opened at $149.12 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.92. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.40 and a 12-month high of $161.24. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $151.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.73.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 45.30%. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

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.