BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC Sells 346 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 346 shares during the period. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 429,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,516,000 after acquiring an additional 8,627 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 53,214 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,137,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in Paychex in the third quarter worth about $272,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 91.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 272 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Paychex by 1.7% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 238,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,560,000 after buying an additional 4,014 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock traded down $0.93 during trading on Thursday, hitting $126.05. 529,017 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,738,839. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.09 and a 1 year high of $129.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.66, a PEG ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.93.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 31.86% and a return on equity of 46.14%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.40%.

Paychex Company 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.