Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC trimmed its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 75.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,952 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 64,518 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $2,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 38,655.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $107,340,000 after purchasing an additional 797,843 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Paychex by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,748,485 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Paychex by 3.8% during the 3rd 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Paychex by 2,404.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $46,391,000 after purchasing an additional 317,634 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA increased its holdings in Paychex by 2,139.2% during the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 295,692 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $39,667,000 after purchasing an additional 282,487 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Paychex Stock Down 0.9 %

PAYX stock traded down $1.38 on Monday, hitting $147.25. 1,052,382 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,726,092. 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 price of $143.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.99. 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 stock has a market cap of $53.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.28% and a net margin of 32.02%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid 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 yield of 2.66%. Paychex's payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.