Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 304 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 304 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Paychex were worth $3,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Paychex by 38,655.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after acquiring an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,391,000 after acquiring an additional 317,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA lifted its holdings in Paychex by 2,139.2% during the third quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,667,000 after acquiring an additional 282,487 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $148.51 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $144.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.60. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-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. The firm has a market cap of $53.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average 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.