Capital Investment Counsel Inc Sells 2,160 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc cut its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 23,873 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,160 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PAYX. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 42.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 32,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,337,000 after acquiring an additional 9,681 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 27.1% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 29,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,892,000 after acquiring an additional 6,186 shares during the period. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in Paychex by 14.0% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 3,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $507,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 6.3% during the third quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in Paychex by 46.9% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 10,815 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,452,000 after acquiring an additional 3,453 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Up 0.1 %

PAYX opened at $150.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $54.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.72. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $143.96 and a 200 day moving average of $139.43.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced 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. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The business 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 business earned $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, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Paychex Company 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.