Natixis Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 108,122 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,152 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $15,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $184,216,000. Amundi grew its position in shares of Paychex by 77.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the third 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 period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $146.99 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $158.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.50. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given 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 yield of 2.67%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective 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 reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

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.