Paychex, Inc. $PAYX Shares Purchased by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC boosted its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 202,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,233 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.06% of Paychex worth $22,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,750,669,000 after acquiring an additional 4,583,157 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,051,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $589,319,000 after acquiring an additional 557,101 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,805,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $355,650,000 after acquiring an additional 31,321 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,280,715 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,908,000 after acquiring an additional 17,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,979,330 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $250,900,000 after acquiring an additional 30,117 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on PAYX shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Paychex from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Paychex to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Paychex from $123.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Argus upgraded Paychex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $106.38.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $94.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $33.77 billion, a PE ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.45 and a twelve month high of $161.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.50.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 25.84%.The company’s revenue was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.49 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.19 per share. This is a positive change from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 13th. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.85%.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, founded in 1971 by B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano and headquartered in Rochester, New York, is a provider of payroll, human resources, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses. The company’s core services include payroll processing and tax filing, employee benefits administration, retirement services, and workers’ compensation administration, designed to simplify back-office operations and help clients comply with regulatory and tax requirements.

Paychex offers an integrated technology platform, marketed under the Paychex Flex brand, which delivers cloud-based payroll, HR, time and attendance, and reporting tools.