Headlands Technologies LLC Makes New $2.33 Million Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,596 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,327,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth about $184,216,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 86.5% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,746,000 after acquiring an additional 628,912 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Paychex by 30,382.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at $78,215,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Cfra Research raised Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $138.83.

Paychex Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $154.28 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.51. 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.67%.

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.