Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co

W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co lessened its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 56,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 932 shares during the quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s holdings in Paychex were worth $7,954,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Paychex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Paychex by 3.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after purchasing an additional 190,937 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $231,295,000 after purchasing an additional 82,091 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Price Performance

Paychex stock opened at $148.51 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. The stock has a market cap of $53.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.27, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $144.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.81. Paychex, Inc. has a 12-month low of $114.72 and a 12-month high of $151.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Sell-side 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PAYX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.23.

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.