Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 26,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,392 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at $84,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 122.1% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 64,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,032,000 after acquiring an additional 35,407 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 169,309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,741,000 after acquiring an additional 25,755 shares in the last quarter. Bender Robert & Associates acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $204,000. Finally, Cushing Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $860,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on PAYX shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

Paychex Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $145.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $52.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $147.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.09. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Paychex 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.