Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX – Free Report) by 70.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 115,373 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Paychex were worth $5,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Paychex by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 18,504,389 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,204,115,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523,520 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 337.3% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,544,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $178,162,000 after buying an additional 1,191,539 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 229.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,630,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $188,655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,456 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $115,494,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Paychex by 123.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,386,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $165,141,000 after purchasing an additional 766,252 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms have recently commented on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Paychex from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Paychex from $122.00 to $121.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.
Get Our Latest Analysis on PAYX
Insider Transactions at Paychex
In other Paychex news, Director David J. S. Flaschen sold 19,709 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.55, for a total value of $2,454,755.95. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,452.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 11.50% of the company’s stock.
Paychex Trading Up 0.6 %
Shares of Paychex stock opened at $122.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $106.27 and a 12-month high of $129.70. The stock has a market cap of $44.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.85.
Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.46 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 46.14% and a net margin of 31.86%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Paychex Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.40%.
Paychex Profile
(Free Report)
Paychex, Inc provides integrated human capital management solutions for human resources (HR), payroll, benefits, 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.
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