Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Choreo LLC

Choreo LLC reduced its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 286 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after acquiring an additional 797,843 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after acquiring an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,391,000 after acquiring an additional 317,634 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% during the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,667,000 after acquiring an additional 282,487 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Trading Down 2.2 %

PAYX opened at $146.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $143.01 and its 200-day moving average is $137.89. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week 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.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

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.