TIAA Trust National Association Boosts Stock Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

TIAA Trust National Association grew its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 678 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Paychex were worth $958,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,521,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,419,878,000 after purchasing an additional 174,817 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,775,365,000 after buying an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.5% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after buying an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position 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 valued at $234,627,000 after buying an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Paychex Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Paychex stock opened at $151.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $54.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.10. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.38 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays upped 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.58.

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.