Martin Capital Partners LLC Lowers Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Martin Capital Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 62.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,840 shares during the period. Martin Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. State Street Corp boosted its position in Paychex by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 2.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Paychex by 46.2% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in Paychex by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $231,295,000 after purchasing an additional 82,091 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $149.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $53.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.48, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $137.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.