Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Gray Wealth Management Inc.

Gray Wealth Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 99 shares during the period. Gray Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Paychex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $184,216,000. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Paychex by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 1.3 %

Paychex stock opened at $145.44 on Monday. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month 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. The stock has a market cap of $52.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.26.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on PAYX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays raised 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.