Crew Capital Management Ltd. Increases Position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Crew Capital Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 200.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,893 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,929 shares during the period. Crew Capital Management Ltd.'s holdings in Paychex were worth $826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after acquiring an additional 60,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,408,458,000 after acquiring an additional 519,761 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 2.1% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 190,937 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $231,295,000 after acquiring an additional 82,091 shares during the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Paychex Trading Up 0.1 %

Paychex stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $152.10. 1,867,538 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,808,243. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.77 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, a PEG ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $145.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Paychex, Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.72 and a twelve month high of $154.98.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is currently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $148.00 price objective on shares of Paychex in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $133.23.

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.