Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV Sells 76 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 76 shares during the quarter. Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 3.8% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,262,700,000 after purchasing an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 46.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,295,000 after acquiring an additional 82,091 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PAYX. Barclays raised their price target on 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 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 set 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Trading Down 1.2 %

Paychex stock opened at $148.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $151.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $144.11 and its 200 day moving average is $139.81.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

About Paychex

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.