Hartford Investment Management Co. Lowers Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Hartford Investment Management Co. cut its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,770 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 291 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 36.5% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 5,494 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Magnus Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Paychex during the 3rd quarter worth $251,000. Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bourne Lent Asset Management Inc. now owns 59,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,975,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the period. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 46,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,307,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, Sunpointe LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 749 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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 reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $52.91 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.56. 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 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $151.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.53%.

Paychex Company 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.