O Brien Wealth Partners LLC Has $179,000 Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

O Brien Wealth Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 173 shares during the period. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. 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 buying an additional 797,843 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd 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 Paychex by 2,404.5% during the 4th 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 boosted its position in Paychex by 2,139.2% during the 3rd 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 during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $146.74 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $143.02 and a 200-day moving average of $138.05. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $151.72. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $52.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays raised 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.