Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. $PAYX

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) by 22.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 43,284 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12,442 shares during the period. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Paychex were worth $4,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PAYX. ABC Arbitrage SA raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 61.4% during the third quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 28,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,726 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Paychex during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,877,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,348,625 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,750,669,000 after acquiring an additional 4,583,157 shares during the last quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 23.9% during the third quarter. First Long Island Investors LLC now owns 99,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,626,000 after acquiring an additional 19,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Paychex by 38.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 978,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $123,983,000 after acquiring an additional 270,327 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company’s stock.

Paychex Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX opened at $100.28 on Wednesday. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.45 and a twelve month high of $157.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.93 billion, a PE ratio of 22.09 and a beta of 0.84.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The business services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.04. Paychex had a return on equity of 48.52% and a net margin of 25.84%.The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were paid a $1.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 13th. This is a boost from Paychex’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.08. This represents a $4.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Paychex’s payout ratio is presently 104.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on PAYX. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Paychex from $116.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Paychex from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Paychex in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Paychex from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $106.63.

Paychex Profile

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.