Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Decreases Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC decreased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 19,063 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 90 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the third 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Paychex by 5.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Paychex by 2.1% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during 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, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,295,000 after purchasing an additional 82,091 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of 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 restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $153.48 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market capitalization of $55.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $154.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $146.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.64.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Paychex 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.