Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 317,740 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 16,400 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.09% of Paychex worth $44,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Paychex by 2.3% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 91.1% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 10,808 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in Paychex by 6.2% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 70,347 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $9,440,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in Paychex by 6.5% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 329,080 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $44,159,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Paychex by 151.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,761 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,872 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.47% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on PAYX. Barclays boosted their target price on Paychex from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Paychex from $133.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 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, Paychex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $132.23.

Paychex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PAYX traded down $1.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $148.66. The company had a trading volume of 616,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,693,707. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $143.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $139.43. Paychex, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $114.72 and a fifty-two week high of $151.72.

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

Paychex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.98 per share. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. Paychex's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.53%.

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.