Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Position Reduced by Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. cut its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 295 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 190,937 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,295,000 after purchasing an additional 82,091 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $149.89 on Tuesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $144.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.99. The company has a market cap of $53.97 billion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last 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. Equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays upped their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.