Investment House LLC Sells 443 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Investment House LLC lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 181,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 443 shares during the period. Paychex comprises about 1.4% of Investment House LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Investment House LLC owned 0.05% of Paychex worth $25,381,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after buying an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after buying an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after buying an additional 190,937 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,295,000 after purchasing an additional 82,091 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their target price on 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 target price on 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 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $146.99 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $52.93 billion, a PE ratio of 30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $158.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $147.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

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.