Blair William & Co. IL Reduces Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 161,470 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,164 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Paychex were worth $22,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Paychex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 241,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 1.1 %

Paychex stock opened at $151.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $148.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $143.10. The company has a market capitalization of $54.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

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.