Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Stock Position Lowered by First Affirmative Financial Network

First Affirmative Financial Network trimmed its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 119 shares during the period. First Affirmative Financial Network’s holdings in Paychex were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after purchasing an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after acquiring an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $231,295,000 after acquiring an additional 82,091 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Up 0.8 %

Paychex stock opened at $148.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $53.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $142.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.93. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $150.71. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on PAYX. Barclays upped their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

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.