Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Invests $48,000 in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 404 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 337.3% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,544,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $178,162,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191,539 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 229.8% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,630,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $188,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,456 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 26.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,631,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,441,000 after acquiring an additional 554,968 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Paychex by 218.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 680,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,794,000 after acquiring an additional 466,890 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 38.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 990,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $114,179,000 after purchasing an additional 276,446 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $121.79. 1,070,110 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,786,053. The company has a market capitalization of $43.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.93. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.09 and a 12 month high of $129.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $120.48.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, January 19th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 0.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $123.00.

Paychex Profile

Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.