Capital Investment Counsel Inc Sells 2,160 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,873 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,160 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Paychex were worth $3,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 32,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,337,000 after purchasing an additional 9,681 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 29,006 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,892,000 after purchasing an additional 6,186 shares during the period. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in Paychex by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 3,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its holdings in Paychex by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 10,815 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,452,000 after purchasing an additional 3,453 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Paychex Price Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $150.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $143.96 and its 200 day moving average is $139.43. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $151.72.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. Paychex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.