Securian Asset Management Inc. Has $2.41 Million Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,214 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 495 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Paychex were worth $2,414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Paychex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after buying an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Paychex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,262,700,000 after buying an additional 190,937 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in Paychex by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $231,295,000 after buying an additional 82,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $145.01 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $52.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. Paychex, Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.72 and a 52 week 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $146.84 and a 200-day moving average of $141.97.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target 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. 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.23.

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.