First National Corp MA ADV Sells 211 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

First National Corp MA ADV lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,621 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 211 shares during the quarter. First National Corp MA ADV’s holdings in Paychex were worth $508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 38,655.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $107,340,000 after acquiring an additional 797,843 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,391,000 after buying an additional 317,634 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,667,000 after buying an additional 282,487 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.74 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $52.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $151.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.