Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Bought by Envestnet Asset Management Inc.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,299,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 56,622 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.64% of Paychex worth $322,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $4,419,878,000 after acquiring an additional 174,817 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,541,034 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,339,463,000 after buying an additional 126,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 46.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Down 6.7 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $143.32 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.40 and a fifty-two week high of $158.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $148.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.38 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PAYX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.00.

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.