Choate Investment Advisors Has $708,000 Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Choate Investment Advisors lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 39.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,280 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Paychex were worth $708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PAYX. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 108,122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,161,000 after purchasing an additional 8,152 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its position in Paychex by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 14,373 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,015,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Paychex in the fourth quarter valued at $251,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 6,683 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $937,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.23.

Paychex Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $145.44 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. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $147.06 and its 200-day moving average is $142.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. 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 2.70%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 82.53%.

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.