Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Increases Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 59.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 967 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Paychex were worth $136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 91.1% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,159,000 after acquiring an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Paychex by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $142,055,000 after acquiring an additional 27,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Paychex by 120.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783 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 research analysts have recently commented on PAYX shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective 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 assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.58.

Paychex Trading Down 0.5 %

PAYX stock opened at $151.03 on Monday. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37. The company has a market capitalization of $54.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $148.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.37. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

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.