BDF Gestion Sells 2,712 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

BDF Gestion decreased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,712 shares during the quarter. BDF Gestion’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Paychex by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 156,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,996,000 after acquiring an additional 4,541 shares during the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 7,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 62,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,782,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 53,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,474,000 after purchasing an additional 12,600 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Counsel LLC now owns 37,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,205,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on PAYX. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of PAYX opened at $146.89 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.92, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week high of $150.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $142.45 and a 200-day moving average of $136.86.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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%. Paychex’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.