Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 113,258 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,554,288 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 113,258 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $217,942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 143,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,267,000 after buying an additional 2,717 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 334.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 260,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,966,000 after purchasing an additional 200,640 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Paychex by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 13,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,802,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position 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 buying an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Paychex by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 37,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,975,000 after buying an additional 4,881 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $143.32 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $148.88 and a 200-day moving average of $143.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.40 and a 52 week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given 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 2.74%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

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.