Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Cuts Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 232 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 38,655.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position 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 during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA grew 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 valued at $39,667,000 after buying an additional 282,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $146.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $143.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $138.05.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.