Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Boston Trust Walden Corp

Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 165,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 154 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Paychex were worth $23,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 152.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Paychex by 6.9% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 103,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,879,000 after buying an additional 6,716 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 65,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,761,000 after acquiring an additional 4,242 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 21.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $603,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 181.6% during the third quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 7,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after acquiring an additional 4,912 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX stock opened at $148.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $142.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.35. The company has a market cap of $53.51 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $150.71.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

About Paychex

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.