Cozad Asset Management Inc. Sells 750 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 750 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Avion Wealth increased its position in shares of Paychex by 469.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $145.44 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $52.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average of $147.06 and a 200 day moving average of $142.26. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $158.37. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

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.