Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Has $1.47 Million Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,466 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Paychex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,351,000. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after acquiring an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,055,000 after acquiring an additional 27,296 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $145.23 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $147.70 and its 200-day moving average is $142.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.29 billion, a PE ratio of 30.57, a PEG 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 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays increased 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. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

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.