Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Lowers Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI cut its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,469 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,160 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Paychex by 38,655.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2,139.2% in 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 in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.39 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $150.71. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

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.