Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Purchased by DAVENPORT & Co LLC

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 54.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,732 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 3.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,262,700,000 after acquiring an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $231,295,000 after buying an additional 82,091 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $148.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.51 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $142.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.35.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PAYX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays upped their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average 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.