Swedbank AB Raises Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 156,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,541 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Paychex were worth $21,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 38,655.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake 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 worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 2,404.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $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 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $148.05 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.31 billion, a PE ratio of 31.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 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. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.93.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PAYX. Barclays boosted their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company 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.