Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Kessler Investment Group LLC

Kessler Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,817 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 305 shares during the period. Kessler Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 27.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 988,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $132,636,000 after buying an additional 212,700 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 169.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,023,000 after buying an additional 4,799 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 2.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after buying an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 6.2% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,440,000 after buying an additional 4,082 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $147.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $151.72. The business’s fifty day moving average is $143.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.69. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays upped their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

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.