Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Position Trimmed by Essex Investment Management Co. LLC

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,063 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 90 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,673,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 424,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,918,000 after buying an additional 13,702 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the third quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 47.5% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,497 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,604,000. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 57.6% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 4,617 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays raised their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $153.48 on Monday. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $154.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $146.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $141.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.26 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 82.53%.

Paychex Company 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.