Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $7.65 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,530 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,845 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Paychex were worth $7,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Barclays PLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,391,000 after purchasing an additional 317,634 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% in the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,667,000 after purchasing an additional 282,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Paychex by 334.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 260,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,966,000 after purchasing an additional 200,640 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $149.26 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $144.77 and a 200 day moving average of $140.24. 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 $151.86. The company has a market capitalization of $53.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.42, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on PAYX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. 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 MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

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.