Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 2,404.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 330,844 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 317,634 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.09% of Paychex worth $46,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Paychex by 49.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 154,587 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $18,328,000 after purchasing an additional 51,085 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.9% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,568 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Paychex by 19.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,356,262 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $279,351,000 after acquiring an additional 384,184 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI purchased a new position in Paychex during the second quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Paychex in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,193,000. 83.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Paychex from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $132.23.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded up $2.57 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $146.84. The stock had a trading volume of 2,262,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,098,836. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $142.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.90. The company has a market capitalization of $52.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 1.00. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $114.72 and a 1 year high of $150.71.

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

Paychex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Paychex's payout ratio is 82.53%.

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.