Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 581,529 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,359 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.16% of Paychex worth $81,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 23.6% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Paychex by 0.6% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 241,697 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at $220,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.58.

Paychex Stock Up 1.1 %

Paychex stock opened at $151.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $143.10. The company has a market capitalization of $54.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a PEG 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 fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid 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 2.58%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

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.