Lbp Am Sa Decreases Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Lbp Am Sa reduced its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 80.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,738 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 78,652 shares during the period. Lbp Am Sa’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $9,553,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth $3,666,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 261,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,687,000 after acquiring an additional 9,132 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments raised its stake in Paychex by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 26,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,711,000 after acquiring an additional 3,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Paychex by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 51,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,247,000 after acquiring an additional 5,800 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $145.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $147.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. 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 2.70%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PAYX shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

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.