Cibc World Markets Corp Purchases 66,919 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Cibc World Markets Corp increased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 129.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 118,524 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,919 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $16,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,351,000. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,055,000 after purchasing an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

Paychex Trading Up 1.8 %

PAYX opened at $147.99 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $53.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $147.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.39.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

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.