Korea Investment CORP Buys 75,417 Shares of Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Korea Investment CORP increased its holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 85.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 163,301 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 75,417 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP's holdings in Paychex were worth $22,898,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Paychex by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 187,663 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $25,182,000 after purchasing an additional 4,157 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Paychex by 91.1% in the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Paychex by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 997,930 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $142,055,000 after buying an additional 27,296 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Paychex by 120.0% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,936 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783 shares in the last quarter. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PAYX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Cfra Research raised shares of Paychex to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Paychex from $141.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays increased their price target on Paychex from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Paychex from $152.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $138.83.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $1.01 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $153.93. 470,339 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,876,733. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $148.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.73. Paychex, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.40 and a 12 month high of $158.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.98. 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 (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The business services provider reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.01. Paychex had a net margin of 32.02% and a return on equity of 45.28%. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.38 earnings per share. Paychex's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.98 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.67%.

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.