Mizuho Bank Ltd. Purchases Shares of 450 Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 450 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $63,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the fourth quarter worth about $184,216,000. Amundi boosted its stake in Paychex by 77.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $215,164,000 after acquiring an additional 672,010 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Paychex by 86.5% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,355,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,746,000 after purchasing an additional 628,912 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Paychex by 30,382.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,758,000 after acquiring an additional 566,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at about $78,215,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Cfra Research upgraded Paychex to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Paychex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $141.00.

Paychex Stock Down 6.7 %

NASDAQ PAYX opened at $143.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $51.62 billion, a PE ratio of 30.17, 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $148.88 and its 200 day moving average is $143.85.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex’s dividend payout ratio is 81.67%.

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.