Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc Sells 535 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lowered its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 535 shares during the quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Paychex by 0.5% in 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 3.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,278,142,000 after buying an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 190,937 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,790,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $212,267,000 after acquiring an additional 113,856 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Paychex from $122.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $146.29 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $142.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.31. The company has a market capitalization of $52.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $150.71.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is 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.