KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Makes New $19.98 Million Investment in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 142,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,978,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Paychex during the third quarter worth approximately $3,351,000. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 6.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $142,055,000 after purchasing an additional 27,296 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX opened at $143.02 on Friday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $158.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $147.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.50 billion, a PE ratio of 30.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

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.