Blair William & Co. IL Decreases Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Blair William & Co. IL reduced its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 161,470 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,164 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Paychex were worth $22,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $184,216,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in Paychex by 77.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after purchasing an additional 672,010 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after buying an additional 566,943 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted 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 valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 5.5% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 519,761 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. 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. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

Paychex Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $151.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $54.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $148.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.10.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

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.