Empirical Asset Management LLC Buys 3,695 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Empirical Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 32.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,101 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,695 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Paychex by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after purchasing an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.8% in the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,790,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $212,267,000 after purchasing an additional 113,856 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 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 $146.29 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $150.71. The company has a market capitalization of $52.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 82.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.