Cerity Partners LLC Trims Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Cerity Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 355,338 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,508 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $49,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Paychex by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,408,458,000 after acquiring an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,339,463,000 after acquiring an additional 126,962 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Paychex by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,299,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $322,407,000 after acquiring an additional 56,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $140.49 on Tuesday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $148.73 and a 200 day moving average of $144.05. The company has a market cap of $50.60 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.40 and a 52-week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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, March 27th. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

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.