Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 174,817 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 8.75% of Paychex worth $4,419,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $493,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 795,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $111,596,000 after buying an additional 66,633 shares during the last quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $350,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $19,978,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $1,272,000. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Barclays increased their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Up 1.3 %

PAYX opened at $144.83 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $52.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $147.86 and its 200-day moving average is $142.89. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. 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.