Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Aspiriant LLC

Aspiriant LLC lowered its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,294 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 385 shares during the quarter. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Paychex by 27.4% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $132,636,000 after purchasing an additional 212,700 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 4.6% during the third quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,567,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $210,282,000 after buying an additional 68,627 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the second quarter worth $2,557,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 169.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 4,799 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Down 0.4 %

PAYX stock opened at $146.29 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $142.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.43. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $150.71. The company has a market cap of $52.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released 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 firm 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. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s 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.