Whittier Trust Co. Has $3.47 Million Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 52.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 24,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,519 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PAYX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Paychex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $184,216,000. Amundi increased its position in Paychex by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after purchasing an additional 672,010 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Paychex by 30,382.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Paychex by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after acquiring an additional 519,761 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.23.

Paychex Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:PAYX opened at $143.02 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $147.77 and its 200-day moving average is $142.63. 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 $158.37. The firm has a market cap of $51.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued 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 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%. Paychex’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. 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.