Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Sells 293 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,407 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 293 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 42.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 805.9% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.10 on Wednesday. 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 $151.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $143.06 and a 200 day moving average of $138.42. The firm has a market cap of $52.60 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

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.