Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Sells 3,334 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lowered its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 59,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,334 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Paychex were worth $8,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 42.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Paychex in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Paychex in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its position in Paychex by 805.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PAYX. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $146.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $52.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $143.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $137.89. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

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