California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,458,050 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 30,308 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.40% of Paychex worth $204,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Paychex in the 4th quarter valued at about $184,216,000. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Paychex by 77.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,534,145 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $215,164,000 after purchasing an additional 672,010 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Paychex by 86.5% in 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 period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 30,382.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 568,809 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $79,758,000 after buying an additional 566,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Paychex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $78,215,000. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Paychex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PAYX traded down $4.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $148.64. 783,183 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,878,288. The business's fifty day moving average price is $148.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.79. The company has a market cap of $53.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33, a PEG 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.

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Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.51 billion. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.98 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. Paychex's payout ratio is 81.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Paychex from $145.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 target price on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Paychex from $137.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $141.00.

Paychex Company 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.