Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank lessened its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 915,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 47,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Paychex were worth $128,301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Paychex by 151.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after buying an additional 5,872 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 831,967 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $111,642,000 after buying an additional 12,178 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after buying an additional 1,410 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 156.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,555 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,416,000 after acquiring an additional 6,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Paychex by 13.2% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,435 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. 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. Barclays raised their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target 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 reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. 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, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $143.56 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market cap of $51.69 billion, a PE ratio of 30.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.