ProVise Management Group LLC Reduces Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

ProVise Management Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 33.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,163 shares during the period. ProVise Management Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Avion Wealth raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. MilWealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $147.53 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The company has a market cap of $53.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $147.60 and a 200-day moving average of $142.53.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly 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. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

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.