O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 124,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,705 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $17,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after buying an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after acquiring an additional 190,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $151.03 on Monday. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. 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 stock has a market cap of $54.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.58.

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.