Great Lakes Advisors LLC Has $3.65 Million Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,043 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,392 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in Paychex were worth $3,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Paychex by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,230,236 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,775,365,000 after buying an additional 60,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,044,631 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,408,458,000 after purchasing an additional 519,761 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,262,700,000 after purchasing an additional 190,937 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted 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 worth $234,627,000 after purchasing an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in shares of Paychex by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,649,758 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $231,295,000 after purchasing an additional 82,091 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

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Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.54 on Wednesday, hitting $147.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,722,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,770,671. Paychex, Inc. has a 1-year low of $114.72 and a 1-year high of $158.37. The stock has a market cap of $53.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $147.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.50. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $133.23.

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.