Distillate Capital Partners LLC Decreases Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Distillate Capital Partners LLC lessened its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 56.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 130,837 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 168,019 shares during the quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $18,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,339,463,000 after buying an additional 126,962 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,104,626 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $575,551,000 after acquiring an additional 208,130 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,299,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $322,407,000 after acquiring an additional 56,622 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $146.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.88. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.40 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $148.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.30. 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 results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.00.

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.