Callahan Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Callahan Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,794 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,084 shares during the quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $11,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 169.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 4,799 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,157 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 91.1% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Paychex by 6.2% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,440,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Paychex by 6.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $147.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $53.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $143.49 and its 200 day moving average is $139.13. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $151.72. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

About Paychex

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.