OFI Invest Asset Management Makes New $43,000 Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 318 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew 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 worth $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Paychex by 2.1% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its position in Paychex by 5.2% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $154.52 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $146.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note 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 research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

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.