Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Cumberland Partners Ltd

Cumberland Partners Ltd cut its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Paychex were worth $1,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in 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 increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 91.1% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after acquiring an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,440,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Paychex by 151.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PAYX. 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. Barclays increased 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $150.04 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $143.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $139.36. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

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.