California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,458,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 30,308 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.40% of Paychex worth $204,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Monument Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,714 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its position in Paychex by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $423,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC grew its stake in Paychex by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 3,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $423,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Paychex stock opened at $151.03 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $158.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $148.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.37. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.38 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.58.

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.