Forsta AP Fonden Sells 5,300 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 127,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,300 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Paychex were worth $17,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PAYX. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Paychex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in Paychex by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 152.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Paychex during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 805.9% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Two investment 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 company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $146.89 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $142.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.86. Paychex, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.72 and a 52-week high of $150.71. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $52.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 1.00.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.