Amalgamated Bank Trims Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 69,266 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,081 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $9,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 32,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,337,000 after buying an additional 9,681 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Paychex by 36.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,773,000 after acquiring an additional 3,544 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 5.5% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 86,565 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,616,000 after acquiring an additional 4,521 shares during the period. Inscription Capital LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 2,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Autumn Glory Partners LLC increased its position in Paychex by 166.8% during the 3rd quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 5,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 3,394 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $151.00 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $144.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $140.18. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $151.86. The company has a market cap of $54.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of 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 restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.