Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Acquired by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 137,337 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,510 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $19,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 38,655.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 2,404.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,391,000 after acquiring an additional 317,634 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA grew its position in Paychex by 2,139.2% in the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,667,000 after acquiring an additional 282,487 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $147.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $53.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $151.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.83.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

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.