Swiss National Bank Decreases Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 915,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 47,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.25% of Paychex worth $128,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth $184,216,000. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on PAYX shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

Paychex Price Performance

PAYX opened at $143.56 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $146.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $158.37. The firm has a market cap of $51.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.22, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

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.