Blue Trust Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Blue Trust Inc. lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 66.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,568 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,056 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Paychex were worth $360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Paychex by 3.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 190,937 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $231,295,000 after buying an additional 82,091 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PAYX has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Paychex presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $1.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $148.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,674,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,725,355. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $114.72 and a 12 month high of $151.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $143.96 and a 200-day moving average of $139.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $53.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts' expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Paychex's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

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.