Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 3,845 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 54,530 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,845 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Paychex were worth $7,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of 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 during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.2% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,440,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after acquiring an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 151.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,310,000 after acquiring an additional 5,872 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PAYX shares. 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. Barclays increased their price target 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $149.26 on Thursday. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $151.86. The company has a fifty day moving average of $144.77 and a 200-day moving average of $140.24. The company has a market capitalization of $53.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 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.