Inspire Investing LLC Purchases 23,959 Shares of Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 63.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 61,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,959 shares during the quarter. Paychex makes up 0.6% of Inspire Investing LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $6,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,750,669,000 after buying an additional 4,583,157 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Paychex by 59.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 30,265,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,395,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,243,295 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Paychex by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,988,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,569,218,000 after acquiring an additional 216,045 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,550,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,295,698,000 after acquiring an additional 263,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Paychex by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,705,424 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,093,958,000 after purchasing an additional 78,760 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Paychex from $123.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Citigroup raised shares of Paychex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Paychex from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Argus raised Paychex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.19.

Paychex Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $97.58 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $94.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.45 and a 52-week high of $152.84. The company has a market cap of $34.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.84.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 25.84% and a return on equity of 48.52%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were given a $1.19 dividend. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. Paychex’s payout ratio is 104.85%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.