Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Decreases Stock Holdings in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX)

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY decreased its position in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 551,732 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 7,631 shares during the quarter. Paychex makes up 2.5% of Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY owned 0.15% of Paychex worth $77,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PAYX. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Paychex by 38,655.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 799,907 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $107,340,000 after buying an additional 797,843 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position 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 worth $234,627,000 after acquiring an additional 552,540 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Paychex by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,524,870 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,278,142,000 after purchasing an additional 345,682 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Paychex by 2,404.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 330,844 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $46,391,000 after purchasing an additional 317,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA grew its stake in Paychex by 2,139.2% in the third 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 owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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 reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $148.00 price target on shares of Paychex in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $146.95. 1,377,683 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,796,860. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Paychex, Inc. has a one year low of $114.72 and a one year high of $151.72. The company has a market cap of $52.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $143.09 and a 200 day moving average of $138.56.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.53%.

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.